Thirty minutes later, a frustrated Lana set her feet back on the ground. She turned, placing her forehead on the willow branches and thanked the tree for all its efforts to help her improve and keep her safe while doing so.
She turned to her brother. "Are you hungry, Dobin?
He laughed "Of course!! Watching you soar through the air like that always makes me hungry." He smiled at his sister.
With both of them kneeling under the tree, she began to grow plants. There were huge tomatoes, foot-long cucumbers, potatoes that could feed two and more. From her bag, she brought out cooking utensils as her brother made a small fire. She brought out her paring knife and prepared the vegetables for cooking. She put them in the pot and got them going then prepared two huge salads so they could both eat their fill once the food in the pot was done. They sat there eating and pondered how their lives were getting ready to change, hoping it was for the better.
Upon returning to the orphanage, she returned all the kitchenware then went to her room and slept a fitful sleep.
The next morning, they both packed what little they owned, which amounted to a few outfits and toiletries, and headed out to school earlier than usual. They wanted to scout out where they needed to go to get picked up. Their school files had been altered. When Dens came to work at the orphanage, he had told them about Military Base 2. Fearing what could happen, he altered their file stating they had been adopted by a local family and had been moved there. Some at the school celebrated thinking it meant Dobin would finally get an ability and the twins would get clothes that fit and didn't look 10 years old. Neither of these things happened. Even though Lana had a strong ability, they still talked about her behind her back. Her clothing was crazy. Nothing matched or fit her. At first it bothered her but she got used to it. She even went so far as to dye her blond hair so her pony tails were two colors. The top part was green and the bottom half was pink. The rest of her hair was still blond. To make her hair even more crazy, her pony tails were tied above her ears instead of closer to the back of her head. She decided if they were going to come at her for being different, she would embrace the part. She was shorter than brother now, being only 5'3" while he was standing at 6" even but she was convinced he was not done growing. Orphanage food was holding him back in her mind.
They arrived at their destination and were surprised to see a mansion in front of them. Dens was standing there to meet them with a new outfit each. "Put these on before coming here to catch the bus. This will hopefully continue the ruse." They nodded thankfully and took the clothing with reverence. They only got "new" clothing once a year. Without thinking, they both embraced him in a hug, knowing they would probably never see him again then rushed off for their last day in their corrupt institution.
********************
Later that day, the twins went to the park that was across the street from the mansion. They found a clearing and Lana looked around. She then listened to see if the trees saw anyone other than them. After confirming they were alone, she placed her hand on the ground and a willow tree sprouted. They stood by watching then Lana decided to try something. She asked the tree to twist its inner branches so they could have a safe sleeping platform at night. They would sleep here and catch the bus Sunday morning. They watched and smiled as a shelter built for two formed in front of their eyes. The platform was up so high it could not be reached by jumping from the ground and there were even enough branches around the outside and the top to stay dry in case there was any unforcasted rain.
She left all her cooking stuff back at the orphanage since it belonged to them anyway but she got busy growing vegetables and berries; things they could eat off the vine but still feel satisfied with their meal. The feeling of peace washed over them in a way they had never felt. There were no piercing screams coming from the basement. There were no emergency messages coming from the trees of the "White Coats" approaching. No need to hastily grab Dobin's hand and rush off to safety or ask the trees to snatch them away from those wishing to do evil. She knew the story of why the orphanage wanted them to not use abilities but she believed the reason to be more nefarious. If they used abilities, it would increase their chances to get away, to survive. She didn't understand the reason for the tortuous experiments they were performing, just that they would sometimes end in death. Sometimes the kids would come back so broken from that place they were never the same. A few to the point they could not even function properly. She developed a lack of trust for adults early on. It was only through her meditations that she learned there were some good adults out there because she learned to read their energy. She still found it difficult to function around the really strong adults even if they had no evil intensions. Dobin seemed to take it better than she did and she didn't understand it.
"Dobin, how do you not… have nightmares?"
Dobin shrugged, "I don't know. I guess because I have you. Somehow you always got us out of there. I refused to make friends with the others after a while. We would always lose them. I never understood why you kept trying to save them. They all refused to believe what kind of place they landed in. Until they experienced it themselves. Then it was too late."
"I envy you."
She sighed then smiled. "We never need to go back there again."
"Exactly."
They ate and talked about the pending changes in their lives and what the potential outcomes could be so they would have plans no matter what happened. They knew bullying happened in Military school as well so they wanted to be as prepared as possible. Soon after the sun went down, Lana asked the tree to put them on their platform where they slept the most peaceful sleep they had ever experienced even though they had no blankets or pillows.
********
The twins stood outside an audacious house Sunday morning, looking the part. A bus pulled up and a large, muscular man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth stepped off. Lana couldn't keep her eyes off him. Even his muscles had muscles! Dobin gulped as he stared in fear of the rigid man.
"Lana and Dobin Plantwell, I presume?" came his squeaking, high pitched voice. It was not the sound they expected. They looked at each other wanting to laugh but not daring to. They forced a straight face and nodded, not trusting their voices. "Do you live here?" Again, they nodded. "Why do your backpacks look so wretched?"
Lana was quick, "My brother has no ability and we were afraid of bullying so we decided to keep our old ones from before we got adopted. Our new parents are so nice to us that we didn't want to disrespect them by allowing our nice things to potentially get destroyed." She gave the husky man a winning smile and he waved his hand toward the bus. "We don't have all day. Get a move on." As they started to move, he stood behind them hollering "Move it! Move it! Move it!" until he was satisfied, they were seated, and the bus could safely move. They were one of the first to be picked up, so they chose to sit in the very front. It decreased the pressure from the man with the cigar. His hat reminded them of a bear that warned about forest fires in comics when they were little.
Some time had passed, Lana didn't know how much as she was too busy trying to quiet her heart. Dobin was asleep next to her he was out within 30 minutes of getting picked up. She didn't like the military. In fact, if she were to choose an organization to work for, she'd rather be a maid for a vampire, something that didn't even exist, than go near the military. They encouraged brutality in the name of strength. Having watched her brother endure such hardships, she knew the military simply saw people as a number. Since the tenuous peace was declared with the dalki, a mandatory draft was initiated. At the age of 16, all children must attend military academy for two years. They didn't have to join but they needed to learn combat basics to be ready in case the peace was broken.
The last stop was apparently complete as she noticed there were no more seats available as she looked around. She had no idea when that was accomplished, lost in her own thoughts as she was. She noticed she was getting tired and as she faced front again, her last thought was that he actually looked like a bear and then she was asleep.
As she awoke, she noticed her brother sleeping on the ground beside her. She knelt down and patted his cheek until he woke up. Then she looked around and noticed a few faces that were seated behind her were still behind her, just on the ground instead of a seat. They had been placed in the order they had sat on the bus. This meant the people in front of her were from a different bus. There were other lines as well on a green field.
Ahead of those students was a platform. Students were called to give their name and ability then stand aside. She noticed once there were 5 students, they were all teleported away. There were two adults on the platform. One was writing things onto her tablet. The other would occasionally produce a book from thin air and hand it to the student who had provided their information. She noticed one boy hugging the book as if his life depended on it. Another was given the book then returned it after seeming to think it over, which caught Lana's interest. Did he just refuse an ability book? she thought. The next boy she had been watching more closely. He was blond, 6'2" tall and appeared super friendly. He was shaking hands with everyone and those who refused to shake hands, he'd touch their shoulder. She couldn't keep her eyes off him as she thought He can touch me anytime. She was still thinking about him when she found her feet walking onto the platform.
"Name and ability," the short brunette stated.
"Lana Plantwell. My ability is plants."
The lady gave her a strange look then put the military watch on her as she had done all the others. Lana had missed that part because she was distracted by the tall blond that had temporarily gotten away from her. She stood off to the side as directed by a hand gesture and then it was her brother's turn.
"Name and ability," he heard.
"Dobin Plantwell, miss. I have no ability."
A book instantly appeared in the hands of the man to her side and Dobin took it with both hands, a nod and a "thank you." He stood off to the side next to his sister and soon, three more were added to their party. As soon as the fifth person was there, they were teleported away.