11 Freak

People born with excess Shinra, the life energy that came to earth from the first Apocalypse, were called Shinralites. Like Tess, it enabled some of them to have abilities but would be lost the closer they got to teenhood. 

To regain their lost abilities they would need to replenish the Shinra supply within their bodies. There was technology that could do that but required a permit as the process was quite technical since it involved the living. 

Operating that procedure without a permit was mostly done by criminals which have also led to devastating side effects. Yes, there was a monster problem but Sybervirians were not the only monsters. 

Tess was left wondering if she was a true Shinralite and how different she was from others. The image of a defeated MS in a blue uniform from her Academy flashed through her mind, making her feel even more different

In society, those with Shinra abilities were highly respected, while those affected by Syb-victims were often looked down upon. Tess, however, found herself in the unique position of being both.

Tess felt a knot of anxiety form in her stomach as Szedra pressed her for information about her abilities. No one, not even her closest friends, knew about her Syb-victim side, and it was the one dirty little secret she planned to bring to her grave. Well, if she didn't mutate into a bloodthirsty monster first. 

She also knew that one day her eye ability would disappear and she could not imagine how embarrassing that would be if people knew she once had an ability. It was better to never have been special than to be special and become something less one day. So, no one knew she had that ability and she planned to keep it that way. 

"It's complicated," she told them.

But Szedra was not so easily deterred. "Complicated?" she repeated, a daring grin spreading across her face. "So you do have an ability. What is it?"

Dammit! That one wasn't going to shut up so easily.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Tess asked her, ignoring Zino between them. "I hardly know anything about you but yet you're asking me for such personal information." She hoped the disapproval in her voice was clear.

Szedra's smile faltered for a moment before she replied, "Nothing about me is interesting enough to be worth knowing."

Tess wasn't convinced. "Everyone has something interesting about them. What is your ability?" she asked, intentionally shifting the focus away from herself.

Szedra turned away, pressing her back against the bench and staring off into the distance.

"Ability? I think the preferred term is a curse."

Tess's mind raced as she recalled the term "curse" being used to describe her own Sybervirus. But something else caught her attention: Szedra wasn't wearing a crest. What did she mean by "curse" then?

"What do you mean by a curse?" asked Zino who moved away from Szedra to squish Tess into the other side of the bench. "Don't tell me you're a Syb-victim!" she screeched. 

"No," said Szedra in an unbothered tone without moving her head. 

Zino made a loud sigh and her shoulders dropped. "Thank goodness." 

Tess felt her anger building at Zino's reaction. She pushed her friend away, snapping, "Zino, stop touching me!"

Zino's eyes widened and she backed away. "I'm so sorry Tee, I was just—"

"Forget it," Tess snapped, turning her attention back to Szedra. "Hey, I'm still talking to you. What the hell is your ability?"

Szedra began to speak, still staring off into the distance as if addressing someone else. Her thick black hair partially obscured her face, making it difficult for Tess to read her expression.

  "It's weird and I can't control it. I always have these short visions that show me stuff. Sometimes they tell me how things work while other times I see the future."

Both Tess and Zino gasped and exchanged a look of surprise.

"The future? I don't think there's ever been such an ability before," added Zino in a hushed voice, clearly impressed.

Tess shook her head. 

"I know," replied Szedra. "Most people think I'm lying."

Zino placed one hand on Szedra's shoulder and said, "Szedra, I don't think you're lying."

Szedra shrugged her left shoulder to get Zino's hand. "It doesn't matter what you think." Her voice got lower. "My dad doesn't and that's all that matters."

"Your dad?" asked Tess with an evil smile. 

Tess knew instantly that Szedra's dad was her weakness. She always liked it when people were willing to talk about personal matters as it was easy to find something she could use to her advantage if she ever needed to. 'The edge' is what she called such information. 

"You have a dad? Cool," she told her to get her to talk about him some more. 

Szedra turned to look at Tess with her hard black eyes. "Yeah. I'm guessing you don't. How come?"

Tess blinked at those words as answering would stray from her topic of interest. "I don't have a mom or a dad, they're dead."

Zino and Szedra looked at Tess from how easily she said that. It sounded like she didn't care at all. 

"I'm so—" was all Zino got out. 

"Don't touch me," Tess blurted, preventing Zino from resting her hand on her shoulder. She sure as hell wasn't interested in her pity talk. Especially not from a syberphobe. 

"I never knew them," she added. "They died when I was really young so I don't have any memories of them to care about."

Szedra's left brow raised and Tess knew she wanted more information. Tess looked away from her to plan carefully her next words. She needed to keep Szedra talking. 

"I've been living with a guardian from as young as I can remember. She's taken good care of me so I've had no reason to miss them. But just because I don't miss them doesn't mean I'm uninterested in hearing about someone else's." 

Tess shifted closer on the bench, folded one leg over the other, and leaned forward. "What are your parents like, Szedra?"

"Parent," she corrected her before turning away to gaze off in the distance again. "My dad is as he should be. The unwelcomed thing he allows inside our home and dares me to call my mother—" Szedra exhaled releasing the fire from her voice"—I don't want to talk about her."

  "Sounds like step-mom issues," commented Tess. "What's her name?"

"Witch of the West."

Tess laughed. Zino put one hand over her mouth to hide her giggle. 

Szedra turned to look at them laughing and it pleased her. She said with a grin, "This is the weirdest dream ever."

Zino and Tess got still after hearing those words. 

"Dream?" asked Zino. 

"Yeah. I know none of this is real. It can't be, since I never go anywhere and people in real life never laugh at anything I say. They're always too serious. Well, at least not my dad but he's different."

"Your dad sounds like a nice person," said Tess.

"This isn't a dream," Zino told Szedra. "If you can feel things then it can't be a dream."

"Then it means I'm in a coma at the hospital. Anything I feel must be from the nerves in my body being too damaged after a horrible incident."

Tess blinked. That girl Szedra was crazy. 

"No, you are here," Zino persisted. 

Szedra turned to Zino, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "As a fellow Shinralite, surely you must have something special about you," she said, her gaze piercing.

Zino froze, her mind racing. "I don't think I have any abnormal abilities," she replied quickly, her words coming out in a rush.

Szedra's brow furrowed in disbelief. "That's what they all say," she muttered under her breath.

"Zino's normal. That makes you the only person of interest," Tess said to Szedra. "See there, something is interesting about you."

"Actually you still haven't confirmed my question."

"What question?" Tess asked with her eyes looking to one corner of her eyes giving dumb look. 

She moved her gaze back at Szedra and continued to speak. "Tell me about one of those visions you mentioned. Tell me about a recent one."

Szedra leaned forward, squinting as if she were trying to recall something in the far distance. Tess looked and there was only the rag-muffin guy fast asleep on the bench in front. She was trying to remember Tess concluded 

"I can't be bothered," Szedra said dismissively.

"Guys I think they're recruiting above-average troopers for this Mid-Sentry," commented Zino while emphasizing 'above-average' by the yanking of her index fingers. 

It got Tess to look at Zino's long glittery pink nails. If that was true, then there's a flaw in their recruitment process. She doubted Zino would last a week there. 

Tess concluded the academic board at her Academy must have applied on her behalf without notifying her. If it was their way of getting rid of her, it worked. Dammit!

It was too bad she would still have to do the Mid-Entry tournament to see if they would keep her based on her physical performance. The result would determine which Mid-Sentry would accept you but in her case being recruited several months before then, it would determine whether they would keep her. 

Tess had no doubt in her performance as she was one of the best stamina students in her year. It got her to wonder how someone like Zino got recruited early. 

"Am I the only one who sees that goofball in front?" asked Szedra. 

"You mean the rag-muffin?" Tess asked as they both looked at the boy fast asleep on one of the benches. 

"What the? Gross, talk about disgusting. How can anyone lack that much self-pride?" asked Zino with a tone of disgust.

It was clear she never noticed him until then since she was too busy staring in a mirror the whole time. It got Tess to wonder just how white her hair was if she saw it over the guy who was out in the open. 

She took a strand of her hair from behind her ear and pulled it towards her face. Maybe it was all that sunlight. It was true her hair gave an alien-like white glow when it was in extreme sunlight. But she was in the shade mostly since she got there. 

"He needs to be taught a lesson. Hey, watch this," whispered Szedra. 

Tess looked behind the strand of hair to see Szedra walking with her back hunched and taking light steps like a professional criminal. Her trajectory was the sleeping boy. 

Why did she have a feeling that was going to be hilarious? Szedra was not a peacekeeper as she thought.