Hazel

"Leo, Evansby and his army are invading the colony," Maxine said.

I was stuck in an illusion.

It was like I was in some other world and heard everyone's voices from reality echoing as if they were all far away. Linus's illusion was too powerful. I kept hearing voices that probably didn't exist. Two of those voices belonged to my parents. I also heard my little twin brothers crying somewhere.

The scene took place in a hospital. I was standing in an empty hallway dressed in a hospital gown and no shoes. The place was extremely cold, and instead of smelling sterile like it should have, the aroma of blood lingered in the air. I heard voices inside of the nearest room, and I ducked my head inside of the doorway. My parents, brothers, a nurse, and a doctor were standing just inside, talking and looking disapprovingly at a body on the hospital bed.

Everyone in the room wore protective suits, as if the room were contaminated with a deadly, contagious disease. My parents were crying and my brothers looked too shocked to move. On the bed, a female body lay there with about twenty different tubes sticking out of her body all over her arms, wrists, mouth, nose, and stomach. Her face was sickly pale and she looked like she had about a few hours to live. Then I glanced at her face one more time.

The girl was me.

This was just an illusion. None of it was real. My family and the doctors hadn't even noticed me when I stepped into the room, so I must have been invisible to them. I stared at my lifeless body on the bed, and wondered what was going on. Then I wondered, What if this really happened?

"There's nothing much we can do. We've tried to get rid of it as best as we could, but it's taken over her system." The doctor said to my parents. He had a familiar British accent that I remember hearing from somewhere. But where?

"A-Are you sure you can't do anything, Doctor?" My mother whimpered. Then she collapsed into my father's arms, sobbing.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Roberts. But it's against the law now to let those who are affected by the mutation live out in the world where they might infect others. Hazel will have to stay in the containment unit until she...passes."

Those words stung. Then I felt another presence beside me. I turned and was shocked to see Linus standing there, right here in my illusion. Without even thinking, I lunged at him. I wanted to punch and kick him as hard as I could, but my attempts only went straight through him like a hologram. Since he was only an illusion too, I couldn't harm him. Darn.

"What are you doing here, Linus? What is this?" I demanded, still angry.

Linus only laughed. "Don't you get it, Hazel? This illusion is real. I accessed the deepest corners of your mind and found out what happened while you were unconscious for almost a year. You're not exactly as closed of a book as you thought, you know."

I clenched my fists. If only I could use my ability right now. "Alright, so you know what happened while I was asleep. Big whoop. Why is it so important that you show me this?"

"Mainly to tick you off because that's what I like to do to people. Other than that, I'm just trying to weaken you so Evansby can destroy you much easier," Linus explained, stepping away from me to stand closer to the me in the hospital bed.

I glared at him. Even though my parents, who were just an illusion, were standing in the room, I wouldn't mind killing Linus right there in front of them. "Linus, why is it so important that Leo and I have to die?"

He didn't say anything for a moment. It was like he was thinking about what to say. Finally, he sighed and said, "Evansby is a jealous man. All he wants is to be the best there is, and anyone having more power than he does makes him extremely angry. You don't understand his reasoning though. But I do. I've been in his position, where everyone judges you and thinks you're a fool. Now is the time that we're doing something for a greater world. His creation of the mutation outbreak is going to change our cruel society, whether you like it or not."

"Linus, I know what you're saying." I really did understand. I had trouble fitting in in the world before the outbreak myself. "Most kids at the colony were outcasts before they even became mutants. Our society may suck, but don't try and change it. At least not the way Evansby wants to. He's using you, and he's planning something much more dangerous than you think."

Linus slowly stepped closer to me, and I had to back away. I didn't know why I was afraid of this creep. Then he laughed one of those mocking laughs, and said, "You don't know what you're talking about. You've just been brainwashed by those people at the colony, so much that you haven't opened your eyes to the other world around you. Life with power is so much greater. Why waste such a great power like yours?"

Then he reached for my face to stroke it, and I smacked his hand away.

"No, Linus," I sneered at him. "You're the one who's been brainwashed. I'm not joining Evansby, and he can cry and be the big brat he is all he likes. I don't care."

The lights in the room flickered, then the scene changed. My body wasn't on the hospital bed anymore. It was replaced with Leo's. And he looked in worse condition than I did.

No, it's just an illusion. I have to stay calm.

"Yes, Hazel. It is an illusion," Linus spoke in my mind. "But how do you know this didn't happen to Leo while you were in your coma? Didn't you consider him?"

Then many doctors appeared around Leo's bed. They started injecting him with many needles, and that's when Leo started screaming. I'd never heard such a horrifying sound before. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn't do anything to stop his pain.

It's just an illusion it's just an illusion it's just an illusion....

Leo's screams continued to echo in the room and he was crying and pleading to the doctors, who didn't seem to care.

Then I started screaming.

LINUS, MAKE IT STOP!

I scrambled to Leo's side and tried to grab his hand. My hand only slid straight through his like a misty fog. I tried shoving the doctors away, but my attempts only went through them. I was helpless, but continued to grab at Leo's hand, screaming at him that everything would be alright. Everything would be alright, Leo.....

~ ~ ~

"HAZEL!" Leo screamed, shaking my body furiously to snap me back to reality.

The illusion was gone. Leo was sitting directly in front of me and wasn't screaming. Maxine, Dana, Sonni, and Jazz were in a circle around me, staring at me like I'd gone crazy. I probably looked pretty insane. My throat was raw from screaming.

Leo looked relieved when I looked into his eyes, telepathically telling him I was okay and that I was just experiencing one of Linus's illusions. He pulled me to his chest and hugged me tight, like I would dissolve into mist like my hand did when I tried holding Leo's hand in the illusion. I immediately hugged him back, breathing in the scent of singed hair from the back of his neck. That's when I remembered what was going on.

The colony was on fire.

Linus was still on the loose.

Evansby and his army were probably breaking into the colony as we spoke.

And judging by how far the destruction was, we were well away from the battlefield.

Maxine saw me looking around at our surroundings and said, "We brought you here to try and calm you down. Don't worry, half the colony, including Sergeant Hammond and Dr. Baker are fighting off Evansby's army around the colony's entrances."

I nodded. But I hated sitting here while everyone looked at me like I'd gone mad. I had to do something to stop Evansby. He was going to fight for his way, even if that meant killing innocent people who never meant to have the mutation happen to them. And that wasn't okay.

"So what are we gonna do? We can't just sit here while a war is going on," I said, standing up. My head went a bit woozy, so I grabbed Leo's elbow for balance.

"Look, Hazel. I don't know if you know this already, but Dr. Baker personally asked us to protect you and Leo from going into battle. We can't lose you guys. You don't know how important you guys are," Maxine said sternly. She seemed so grown up for her age.

"Why are me and Hazel so important? What about other mutants? I'm always hearing this but I don't understand," Leo asked. He had a point.

"Because, Leo, " Dana said. She glanced nervously to Maxine, but continued. "You two are important factors to Evansby's little experiment. Dr. Baker told us that if you guys die, something big will happen. That's all we know, I swear."

"If we knew more, we'd tell you," Maxine added.

I looked at Leo. We were thinking the same thing. We were just pieces in Evansby's little game he was playing. If we died, something big would happen involving the mutant outbreak. And I had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Dana, we can't just stay in hiding while the other mutants are fighting to keep us safe. I know it's risky, but Hazel and I need to go into battle. We need to figure this out ourselves firsthand, since we're the ones he wants. Please," Leo pleaded. He was right. Even if we risked our safety and other mutants' safety, we needed to fight in this war too.

Sonni and Jazz hadn't said anything the whole time. I figured it was because they were too young to understand all this. But maybe that wasn't the case.

"So we have to let them fight and get in trouble with Dr. Baker?" Jazz asked. She was so innocent that I wanted to hug her.

Dana sighed. "Yes, kiddo. I think we're gonna let them come kick some butt with us."

Then she winked at me and Leo. I guess this meant we were going into battle.