I glanced about. The bay was stretched over in front of me, some marshy grass sticking out near the water. Llia took a step into it as I collapsed on the ground, afraid to touch anything, for fear it might die.
Llia looked back at me. "Are you okay, Vivi?" she asked, her hand hovering over the water, and the water stretching up to it like wet clay.
I shook my head, hands crossed on my chest. "What am I gonna tell my parents?" I whispered. "'Oh, hey, Mom, I just killed all my classmates.'" I said, and then added sarcastically, "She's gonna be like, 'Honey, did they annoy you?' And I'm gonna have to say, 'Oh, no, not this time, but the school suddenly started making all the survivors of my little accident into monsters and I met this girl who can control water!""
"Your description of me isn't very flattering," she cracked. Then Llia stayed silent for a moment. "I just realized I had it today," she admitted.
I sighed. "Mine's been growing, I think. What are you gonna say to your parents?"
"I won't say anything," she said. "It'll be safer this way."
I pulled out my phone, and unlocked it. "We should at least call them," I said urgently. "Tell them we're on some sort of field trip or something."
Llia said, "They're gonna hear about the school soon. Everyone's dead. You killed them."
"Don't say that," I hissed, "It's terrible. I... didn't mean to kill anyone."
"Maybe they'll think we died in the school," said Llia. "But they'll find the bodies of the monsters… " she sat down with me, playing with her newfound power. She had a thoughtful expression her face.
"I'm sure the police will cover it up," I said bitterly. "They always do."
"How do you know that?"
"My mom's an officer and my dad's a college professor of criminology and psychology and all the mind-related "logies"."
"You're pretty smart for your age," she said quietly. I smiled for a moment but immediately snapped back to my usual demeanor as she asked aloud, "Where will we go?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe there's more like us..." she said slowly.
"Looks like there is," I said, and showed her the international news on my phone, under the crime and missing child reports.She scrolled through the news stories, several of which were in different languages, and then pulled them up on her phone to be sure.
-Today a child went missing. The police do not have any further information besides the fact that said child was told to have unusual powers, which is under investigation.
All of them played mostly the same tune, but with foggy and mysterious details. Llia bit her lip and turned towards the bay. "You think we can do more with our powers?" she asked. "Maybe we can use them to find a place to hide..." she took a step forward, and a foothold made of swirling water appeared over the shallow end of the harbor.
"I have an idea," I said.
We walked over to a higher point near the harbor, where it was much deeper.
"Okay," I said. "Apparently you can walk on water as well."
Llia smiled. "Apparently, Ms. Obvious. Okay. So, how do we find a place to go?" she asked, but it was more of a statement than a question, like she wasn't exactly expecting an answer. "Maybe we could try-"
"Don't you be snappy with me," I said suddenly.
She looked at me, her face like an anime character when someone says something dumb and they're like, 'really? You're gonna do that now, of all places?' And that's basically what she said.
"We shouldn't fight," she said, and I immediately regretted what I did and gave an impish smile.
"Yeah," I said.. "Let's find out what's going on..." I glanced at her. "I hope this all works out."
She smiled. "I hope it does too."
