Immediately when I got into my hospital room I collapsed onto my bed from sheer exhaustion due to the events prior. Justin was now fully dressed and the TV was no longer blaring. We were all just overwhelmed. When I first came in they pried me for explanations, so I briefly told them, but then I didn't want to say anymore. It was too weird to think about. I closed my eyes and soon found myself drifting away into my own mind.

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I opened my eyes to darkness, as if I was still staring at the inside of my eyelids. Frantically I darted them around trying to make sight of my surroundings, but nothing came into my view. However, I could hear breathing. The thing was, it wasn't my own. This breathing was raspy, and thick, as if it was trying to breathe in sand. A voice broke through the darkness like an intercom announcement at school.

"You have made a terrible mistake." The voice had a slight Russian accent, but not as thick as the doctor's, as if they had been living in America for a while. They continued talking. "Because of your foolish mistakes, all your friends have to suffer."

The breathing got closer to me, because I could feel it's cold wetness down my neck and I began to shiver. I felt a hand clamp down on my leg and started to panic. I thrashed about, blind in The darkness, but the voice continued speaking.

"You are an absolute disgrace to your kind."

I shuddered even more and struggled to wake up as a wet, slimy liquid hit my face. If this really was a dream then wake me up now. Stab me with a fork or something.

"I should just kill you right now. I'd be doing the world a favor."

No! Wake up! Stop dreaming! I yelled at myself to come to consciousness. The mysterious grip on my leg tightened and I began to shake uncontrollably.

The breathing stopped but I continued shaking, thrashing about. Out of nowhere through the darkness I heard a loud bang, a gunshot ringing through the empty room and light come flooding back into my eyes.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" Beads of sweat poured down my face and I was still shaking.

"Ali!" Justin wrapped his arms around me and then looked into my face, his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"You we're going crazy, what happened?" Andrew had his hand on my leg, his touch must have been what I felt.

Breathe. I told myself. I closed my eyes, wait, bad idea, don't close my eyes. In, out. In, out. I screamed again.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. It was just a dream." Justin stared into my eyes and I shook my head fast. He looked confused.

"It, it just seemed so real." I looked away and Justin released his comforting grip on me. "I felt him breathing down my neck, I," I struggled to get the words out as they choked my throat, "I thought I was going to die."

Simultaneously, as if the boys had some form of telepathic communication they both came and enveloped me in a large hug, that seemed to wash everything away. We stayed in that position for what seemed like forever, but wasn't nearly long enough.

"Sorry to interrupt," we all separated as Dr. Tusik walked into the room, "but I felt like some explanations were in order."

"It's about time!" I exclaimed. I threw my hands into the air in a silent cry of desperation.

"Are any of you familiar with the Latin phrase, facit autem virtus nostra nos?"

"I recognize some of the words, like power, and one, something like that." Justin pulled his thumb towards his mouth and chewed on his nail, the way he always did when he was thinking. It was something he did that made him seem helpless and child-like, but was still vaguely attractive.

"Facit autem virtus nostra nos. Our power makes us one." Dr. Tusik stroked the stubbly goatee on his chin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andrew seemed to be getting annoyed.

"It's an ancient motto, a common saying. Our power makes us one. The individual strengths and abilities of the members of the group can come together to make the team altogether more powerful. Ponimayu?"

It was another Russian word we didn't know, but we nodded our heads in silent agreement.

"Kharoshow. It's time for a little story."

As if on cue several nurses brought in various snack items. Colorful smoothies on trays lined with assorted fruits and containers of childish jello and pudding. But we didn't argue. It's free food, we're teenagers. Andrew dug right into the Jello as Dr. Tusik began his tale.

"About 55 years ago, in the 1960s, a man by the name of Alfred Adenosine founded a gifted school for, well obviously gifted children. Many parents came flocking towards the school to show that their child was the best. However this school was very exclusive, and the screening and testing process was long and difficult. Those who did pass were not what he wanted. Alfred Adenosine wasn't just looking for the best chess players or youngest music composers, no. He was looking for those who were different. The outcasts, the weirdos you might say. And after many months of screening and tests, and rejected families, he finally found who he was looking for. These four children came flocking from all corners of the world, all different sorts of families and situations. These four students were lucky enough to get to stay with him for as long as needed."

Justin rudely interrupted, "what about their families? Did they get a say in this?"

"The little details are important. Just listen." Dr. Tusik continued. "Dr. Adenosine moved the location of the school to a more remote place for security reasons and began working with the children. I say children, but in reality they weren't that different from you.

The eldest of the four was named Robert, who was 17 years old. He was very large in stature, and had a great and powerful mind, solving mathematical equations that the doctor himself couldn't begin to comprehend. The next oldest was Sally at 16 years. Sally was a fiery and fierce girl, which was out of place for her time period. But she loved animals, big and small and would care for them like they were her own children. After Sally was Max, at the tender age of 14. Max was still coming to terms with himself at his age, but he loved playing tricks, teasing the other children and confusing them. And lastly, was Ariana. Ariana was the hardest to find, because she was the most special. She was twelve years old, but was wise beyond her years. She appeared soft, sweet and gentle on the outside, but inside she was a very different girl altogether, and it wasn't until much later that the doctor found out what she was capable of accomplishing."

Dr. Tusik's story was interrupted by the loud slurping of Andrew's smoothie, and he quickly apologized before continuing on.

"These four children became his guinea pigs. They were vulnerable and naive, they didn't know any better." The Dr. paused for a moment and looked off into the distance, regaining his thoughts. "I'm sorry children, I haven't told this story in a while and I'm afraid I'm rather rusty, forgive me, prosti."

We all nodded in agreement as Dr. Tusik collected himself, stroking his peppered chin. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence he began again.

"After two years, no three, yes it was two. After two years of staying with Dr. Adenosine, the Dr. finally decided to come to a conclusion. They were special. And special people needed special names and special training. They called themselves "The Clan". And 'facit autem virtus nostra nos' was their motto. Together, their powers did make them one. They were powerful, and they finally decided to put labels on themselves. These labels would label people for generations to come, so they had to be careful. After weeks of decision making, they came to conclusions.

Robert became known as a 'Superhuman'. A very broad term for someone with many different abilities. Basically Robert's genes were altered, making him stronger, smarter, faster, and healthier than most boys of his age.

Sally was classified as a 'Nature Bender'. As the name goes, bending nature against their will. Resulting as close contacts with Mother Nature (figuratively speaking), and alterations of the brains communications systems, Nature Benders are allowed to, as the name goes, bend nature. She could communicate with her closest animals, and could bend the matters of the earth to her will. Her specialty was fire.

Max was harder to classify, but they finally settled on 'Shape Shifter'. Max's trickster personality reflected his powers greatly. Because of complications with the bone structure and genes, Max was able to change his shape. He could alter his physical appearance making him taller, or thinner or stronger. Max's powers even got to the point to where he was able to alter the structure of other objects, simply by looking at them.

And lastly, Ariana. Ariana, though might it might not appear at first glance, she was the most powerful. At 12 she could accomplish many things. However at 14, you wanted to be on her side. They classified her as 'Mind Reader'. The most dangerous, most powerful power of all of them. Her brain structure was greatly altered. It is said that humans only use 10% of their brain, but she could access all of it, leading her to more power than she should have been allowed. This lead her to be able to do extraordinary things. Her memory never failed her, leading her to see events she's been and places she will be. She was able to know your deepest fears and your greatest wishes, bending them to her will. Her massive brain power also led her to be able to heal herself very quickly, and even to heal others."

I stopped listening for a minute. No. It can't be, it's just a coincidence. I'm not like her. I'm I'm normal. I refuse to be anything else. I began to listen again.

"The powers of her brain led her to be able to control others. Making them lose all powers of control, forcing them to be corrupted unto her command.

We can all be thankful that her kind heart kept her from destroying everyone else around her. However, not everyone can be as kind. After seeing what she was capable of, Dr. Adenosine began to grow greedy. Some say that by spending too much time around the girl she began to have negative affects on him. He yearned for her power. When she was sixteen, and all of the other children were now legal adults, he could not control them anymore. He offered them jobs and money to continue their work with him, but they all refused, promising to come back for Ariana." Dr. Tusik took a deep breath. "I'm sorry this next part is rather hard to tell, um."

"It's alright, take your time." Andrew and I nodded in agreement with Justin.

"Spasibo. Anyways. Dr. Adenosine was horrible to Ariana, making her do things and complete tests that no sixteen year old should have to go through. Everyday he would work her to the bone, until she was black and blue all over and couldn't speak or eat from the sheer mental exhaustion. He starved her and tortured her, and," Dr. Tusik began to get choked up a little, and he took a moment to regain his composure, "some even go as far as to say, he killed her."

Small, but audible gasps rang out from among the three of us. She was so young. If there had been better child care services in that time then that wouldn't have happened. But Dr. Tusik kept talking.

"Nobody exactly knows what happened. All that they know is that they never heard from her, or Dr. Alfred Adenosine again. Some say he killed her, or she killed him." He paused again. "All we know, is that after word got back to the other three children, they took action. They formed a school for children like them, who had unique abilities like they did, classifying them into the four groups. The four wings of the school, one for each of the powers. However, one wing has forever remained empty. They have never been able to find any other mind readers, no one else who was similar to poor Ariana. She was the only one, and has been to this day."

"Wait, so you mean to say that there is a magical school for crazy people who can do weird things?" Andrew suddenly seemed interested.

"CAreful the words you use. But yes, the school still runs today, because it is still needed by children such as yourselves."

"Such as ourselves, what's that supposed to mean?" I was starting to get a little worried. Would we have to go to this school?

"It means, that you three are in need of help. You have shown signs of abilities similar to the four classes. So, in order to help you we sent Jarvin to recruit you. However things happened and the enemy got to you first. Luckily we got to you in time before they could do anything severe."

"Anything severe? ANYTHING SEVERE!!??" I got so mad that I stood up on the bed and Justin and Andrew shrunk down, knowing not to mess with me. "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!! WE WERE KIDNAPPED, SHOT, NEARLY DIED TRYING TO ESCAPE. WE STARVED, SLEPT IN A TRUCK, ALMOST DIED FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO SEND AN IDIOT WHO MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE BY BEATING UP JUSTIN AND SENDING US TO THE HOSPITAL BY PRACTICALLY KIDNAPPING US AGAIN!!!!!!" I felt the rage inside of me boiling up like a pan of hot water on a stove, but it felt good. Every ounce of my being told me to keep going, even though I knew I shouldn't, but I did. "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF NOT KNOWING WHAT's GOING ON! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF NOT KNOWING IF MY DAD IS OKAY!!! ALL OF YOU PEOPLE ARE INSANE!!! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS! I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS!!! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!!!!!! DON'T TELL ME NOTHING SEVERE HASN'T HAPPENED BECAUSE IF YOU THINK THAT THEN YOU BETTER BE PLAIN STUPID OR DEAD!!!" With the last final word that came out of my mouth I felt all of my anger come outside of me like a grenade that I just through at the ceiling, because it exploded.

Not the ceiling, just the light fixture on it. It shattered into a million pieces and I screamed and ducked under the bed, pulling Justin and Andrew down with me as pieces of glass rained down upon us. After a few moments of awkward silence I shoved Justin and Andrew off of me and we all sat back on the bed after dusting the glass off of it. Moments of awkward silence followed until I finally had the courage to ask.

"Did, did I do that?"

"I'm assuming so, but don't worry about it, we can always get it replaced. Are all of you alright?"

We all nodded quietly in reassurance that we were okay.

"Can I continue then?"

We nodded again.

"Kharoshow. Like I was saying, you three posses powers that are unsure and in need of testing. However, we have theories that could be a possibility. Would you like to know?"

We all glanced at each other and then simultaneously breathed before nodding once more.

"Alright then. Justin, you were the hardest to place. At first we considered Superhuman, due to your participation in many physical activities and your level of knowledge, but all of that is purely coincidental. The incident at the swimming pool today leads us to believe you are a Nature Bender."

I wanted to stop and say something but he kept talking so fast so that Justin didn't have time to come to terms with the new information he had just received.

"Andrew," he continued. "It was obvious for you, when you first got here you were showing clear signs of overexertion, and the incident in the alleyway obviously inclines that you are a Shape Shifter."

Andrew looked as if he had just been slapped in the face, yet the doctor kept talking. It was my turn now.

"Ali, Alanis. You, well, we don't know what you are." And with that he got up and left the room, swirling his coat behind him, leaving us to deal with this news.