NKJZ6vbM

1Summary:
2	In the year 2019, the World has begun to be torn apart by hunger and war. Humanity is on its way out, but then the seven Gods appeared. Normal humans who shared the same dream and awakened into power. The World is fascinated by their existence and with their help and leadership, the world begins to rebuild.
3	Jasmine Morrison has shared the same dream as the Gods, but she doesn’t know what her abilities are. As she is brought into their world, her journey to find her true nature will show her much more than she bargained for. 
4
5I.	WHAT ARE THE GODS?
6
7The Gods were not always Gods. They were once human, or so they claim. Becoming a God is called “Awakening”. Aside from their magical abilities, Gods do appear to be human for all intents and purposes. Some have allowed themselves to be experimented on by scientists, who have concluded that the Gods have perfect cell regeneration, which enables immortality and instantaneous healing. As for their other powers, Scientists note that the pineal gland (or the “third eye”) in the brain lights up intensely when their powers are used, though neuroscientists are still trying to figure out the specifics.
8
9WHAT CAN THEY DO?
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11The Gods appear to be human, but they command power over the natural forces of the Earth. They have considerable abilities, but they are limited. A God, like a human, can only do so much before they must rest. 
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13
14WHY WERE THE GODS BORN?
15
16The generally accepted opinion is that the Gods were born to save humanity from inevitable destruction.
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18The Gods appeared right after the appearance of a deadly mutagen that severely affected food supplies all over the world.  Starvation was rampant and only getting worse as time crawled on. Humanity was clearly heading towards its own doom, and the Gods each played their own part to help rebuild the world.
19With the opinions of more than a few of the Gods behind them, many parts of the world saw the appearance of the Gods as a sign that Humanity's hubris had almost brought its doom and that only God's divine hand had saved it.
20High technology was blamed for this catastrophe, and before long, each country passed legislation to limit scientific research and accept a more naturalistic approach to food production. Many interpreted the appearance of the Gods as a warning, or a one-time offering of help, and that if Humanity did in fact fail again, next time the intervention would not be as benevolent, if it came at all.
21
22WHO CREATED THE GODS?
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24All the Gods have the same experience of gaining their powers: they were in a dream. They were in a place where the sky was reflected on the surface that they walked, but they were not walking on water, it was hard and flat, like a mirror. Clouds drifted by, and after a moment, the clouds part and a bright golden light, reveals itself and they feel their eyes burn away. Their sight is gone, replaced by a black void, followed by the sensation of their corporeal body being dissolved away. In each dream, when their eyes are burned away, they are “reborn” in the raw elemental energy of that which they control.
25
26There are many theories as to who created the Gods. The most popular interpretation is the God of the majority religions – Allah, Yahweh, etc...The Sun is the one true God (because of the dream)...Aliens are the ones who create the Gods (the dream was actually the interior of a spaceship)....the Department of Supernatural Affairs actually created the Gods through advanced technology that they keep secret from the rest of the world (the Gods are “prototypes”?)...The Gods are actually the Greek/Roman Gods of old...
27
28WHO ARE THE GODS?
29
30The Gods all gained their new identity literally overnight. Their lives are just as varied as they would be if picked completely at random. Some are old, some are young, some in between...some are accountants, some are fast food workers, some are in prison....and they come from all over the world. When they awake from this dream, their minds are “wiped clean”, so to speak. They are not retarded, though many of their family and loves ones believe they are. They have no language, and appear very confused. However, they pick up language just as easily as one could expect.  And their abilities are also made very clear.
31
32The Gods' personalities and beliefs are just as varied as anyone else. Some accept their nature and see themselves as benevolent messengers who work on behalf of a loving God, some revel in their power, some use their power for selfish reasons, and some hide from the world, unsure of what to do with their abilities. However, one thing that all Gods share is that they can sense when another God is nearby. The closer they get, the more intense the sensation. The Gods have named this phenomenon the “Divine Resonance”.
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34 Some of the gods are very involved in the goings-on of humans; others are more reclusive or low-key. They are much like politicians or celebrities. They choose whom they imbue with their essences, they do not take requests. It's sort of like being knighted. They call the act of bestowing them with these abilities "Infusion". Their abilities are modest, but still very supernatural.
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36II. There are 7 known Gods: (GOALS!) (Tattoos?) (Who and what do they care about?) (pets?)
37
38* Cassandra Rubino, The Goddess of Fire & Ice (31 years old, Italy) – More specifically, heat. She can conjure flames, or she can deplete something of heat entirely. After all, cold is just the absence of heat. Cassandra revels in her celebrity status, and jokingly refers to herself as the “Diva” of the Gods. She is as beautiful as she is self-absorbed, though she does use her abilities for good...in between modeling sessions, interviews and filming. Although she is highly sought after by many males, she is secretly a lesbian. As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, who are against homosexuality, she keeps this a secret. Before her Awakening, she worked as a night club DJ under the name “Cassie Nova” (a name that cleverly hides her sexuality under the nose of fans and critics alike), and enjoyed moderate success. After her Awakening, she is now amongst the most popular musicians in the world, and her spectacular shows, enhanced through her own brand of pyrotechnics, sell out almost immediately. Her goal is to start her own record label. Dark Secret: She was, briefly, in lesbian pornography. This could be how the church discovers that she is a lesbian.
39
40* Ravi Bennett, The God of Water (11 years old, Hilo, HI / India origin) – Painfully introverted, Ravi has had a difficult time with his Awakening. At only 14, he spent most of his abusive youth in an orphanage in India just trying to stay alive. He bears a horrid burn scar on his head, across which no hair will ever grow. With the help and protection of a sympathetic nun, he was adopted away to a Christian family in Hilo, Hawaii when he was 10, who gave him a new last name. He loathes attention, having received mostly negative attention, and possessing the unique ability to breathe water, he spent (and still spends) a lot of time beneath the surface, away from the world. Much of his time is spent playing piano, and he is becoming quite good at it. However, the public loves him (much to his dismay). There was no religion when he lived in the orphanage, but his adopted family has indoctrinated him into their church. While he loves his adoptive family, he never had a connection with someone as powerful as the connection he comes to share with Toru. His goal is to become a professional concert pianist. Dark Secret: ...
41
42* Lindsay Eschscholtz, the Goddess of Stone (25, Helena, Montana) – She can manipulate stone, and sense what kind of minerals and rocks lay beneath a surface. Already possessing a thirst for knowledge pre-Awakening, her abilities drove her to become quite knowledgeable about Geology. Like Ravi, she had an abusive, isolated childhood. She has a silly sense of humor, and loves to make geology puns. She is well-loved by the educational community, since she uses her power and celebrity to spread knowledge about geology and other sciences. She spends much of her time helping to rebuild communities and buildings that have suffered earthquake damage. She is an avid gamer in her spare time. Before her Awakening, she worked as a sales clerk at a national drugstore chain called Rx-Mart. She formerly described herself as an “Apatheist”, someone who doesn't know if God exists, and doesn't care. Even after her Awakening, she still considers herself an Apatheist (she is more concerned with using her powers to educate); though she tells the public she is “Agnostic” to avoid bad PR. Although she can be charismatic when talking about science, she is otherwise rather shy. Her goal is to become a respected scientist and have a paper published in a scientific journal. Dark Secret: She was once involved in a hit-and-run when she first started driving.
43
44* Toru, God of Wind (51, Fukui, Japan) – He can command air pressure and wind currents. Toru was homeless when he was Awakened, having quit his job and gone into deep depression after his wife committed suicide. He views his Awakening as a call to action, to help those in need as much as possible. He spends a lot of time in third world countries bringing rain to areas in need of it and telling his story.  Before he was homeless, he was a successful accountant and amateur bodybuilder...but the death of his wife changed everything. Upon becoming homeless, he became a mugger in order to get enough money to survive as “net cafe refugee”, a new breed of homeless who live in net cafes because the “rent” is so cheap. He is a Buddhist. He and Ravi are very close, as they have both had their share of suffering. As the story progresses Toru comes to consider Ravi as a son, having never had children of his own. His goal is to become a professional competitor in strongman competitions. Dark Secret: He used to beat his wife.
45
46* Gabriel, God of Life (84, Rosario, Argentina) – He can manipulate plants by removing impurities, forcing rapid growth, or he can heal the sick and injured by absorbing their illness in a painful but temporary act. Gabriel was retired, living with the rest of his family (as is not uncommon in Argentina) in his considerably sized home in his hometown when his Awakening occurred. Before his Awakening, he suffered from senility, in addition to lung cancer from smoking cigarettes for most of his life. However, the cleansing from his Awakening granted him perfect health and lucidity. Before he retired, Gabriel was a professional photographer who worked for El Voz Comunidad (“The community voice”), a relatively well-known newspaper.   Before becoming a photographer, Gabriel served in the Argentine Army for 6 years. Pre-Awakening, Gabriel spent most of his time taking pictures around his hometown. He now spends most of his time in children's hospitals. He always travels with his family, an extensive lot – but his grandchildren are his favorite companions. He is the most adored of all the Gods. Although his pictures are highly sought after, he does not sell them to individuals, but rather only donates them to charity auctions, and they always fetch a high price. A statue of Gabriel now stands beside the statue of Jesus in Rio De Janiro. He is a devout Christian and loves to gamble. Dark Secret: something war-related.
47
48* Clay, (34, God of Clairvoyance (South Africa / Manchester, UK origin) – Clay has the ability to (once per day) know the location of any person on Earth, and teleport himself and anything he is touching to them immediately. He also has heightened senses. One of the less benevolent Gods, Clay has been involved in the drug trade ever since he graduated from high school. Starting off as a tout (someone who introduces buyers to sellers) for a supplier of Cocaine and Marijuana in the greater Manchester area, he soon started his own operation. However, he was not very subtle, and was soon placed on a wanted list. He fled to South Africa to avoid being arrested in the fall of 2012 at 27 years old. He was the last God to reveal himself, only coming forward once he spoke to the Department of Supernatural Affairs and had his records expunged, in exchange for his service. As a result, very few know the true nature of his crimes – though he contends that he was deep in debt and fled to Africa to escape his debtors. Light/Shadow – the duality of man? Can a formerly evil man become good? Smokes cigarettes frequently. He is unusually hairy. Dark Secret: sorta already has one (drug dealer)
49
50* Jasmine Morrison (20, Salinas, CA) Goddess of Death - This is the Protagonist. She is the only one who can kill a God, although in order for her to kill a god (or Infused), the other gods must agree with it. When the other gods all agree that another should die, Jasmine's right hand glows black. When this happens, she immediately learns what her power is. When she touches the condemned God or Infused, they die. She is a college student studying Philosophy when she has her Awakening. She is an atheist, although her Awakening is causing her to have second thoughts, like much of the world's Atheists since the Unveiling. Before her Awakening, she worked as a part-time receptionist at an Insurance Agency. In her free time, she volunteers at a no-kill shelter for cats and dogs. Recreational pot smoker. Dark secret: 
51
52
53Chapter 1
54
55
56	I don't remember how I got here. It feels like I'm in the middle of the sky, but it doesn't make sense. I don't feel any wind, and I don't hear any sound at all, not like the world is on mute, but there's nothing to mute. I look down to see my bare feet standing on a firm mirrored surface, the reflection of the sky above me, just out of my reach. I take a few uneasy steps on the surface, which is cold and hard against my feet. I see the clouds begin to churn and twist in the reflection of the surface, so I look up at the sky. I feel a tepid fear as the clouds began to part, ever so slowly, and I saw a golden light, just a dot, approaching from far away in the cerulean sky, like a distant train. I don't just see it, I feel it; I welcome it. It comes closer and closer, and as it does I feel my fear drain away. I let it come close to me, I let it touch me. Whatever it was, it stood before me enormous, engulfing the sky, my wide eyes taking in its glory. Nothing I can remember in my waking life has ever felt so real. Suddenly, it flashes brilliantly, and I feel my eyes burn away...but there is no pain, no fear. The world becomes a black void. I hear something inside of my mind, something that sounds like a sword being drawn from a scabbard, bathed in white noise. Immediately after, I stumbled backwards and just as I felt myself falling backwards, my body faded away. I feel like I was a ghost, floating in a black void of space, a spirit; a star. I wonder if I've died in my sleep, because they say that if you die in a dream you die in reality...I wonder if I will ever awaken. 
57
58
59	Daylight cast an orange glow through my eyelids, and as I opened them I was shown the world to which I thought I would never return: the off-white ceiling of my shoebox dorm room in Morris College, the ambient sound of thumping bass emanating from the common wall that we share with a neighbor who enjoys dubstep far too much. I didn't move for several minutes, because I had this feeling in my gut, this churning...like something was different. I didn't feel like the same person. I felt like everything was new, as though I were seeing it for the first time, even though all of it was in my memory. It took me a long time to finally sit up slowly in my twin-size bed, running my hands through my hair, a shoulder length brunette mess that desperately needed the attention of a hairbrush. I drew in a deep breath and looked around our little piece of space. Like many students, we decorated our dorm as much as we could to make it feel a little more unique, we students like to pretend that our individual dorms are different, even though they have exactly the same layout. My side mostly had interesting artwork or photography that I'd found online, and my roommate's side was mostly pictures of soccer players torn out of sports magazines and multi-colored vinyl wall stickers, mostly polka dots and art-deco squares overlapping and clashing.
60	“Oh, you're awake? I was enjoying watching you sleep. You looked so peaceful,” my roommate, Zoey: she always spoke loud, as if to make sure she were heard. She is not my favorite person to talk to in the morning, especially if I'm hungover. Still, she had a motherly quality that I enjoyed...sort of a rare quality for a party animal like her to have. I was getting straight A's, and she intended to help me keep it that way. She was also 21, a year older than me – so it was mostly her decision on whether or not we would be partying that night. She seemed to know all the bouncers around town, so they never carded me. The fact that I was “with” her, always seemed to be good enough for them. She had a disarming smile, and though she was not beautiful, she had a force of personality that attracted people to her. She had hair the color of autumn and naturally long eyelashes with vivid blue eyes. She was tall and lean, and made me feel short whenever she stood at my bedside like she was doing now.
61	“Watching me sleep? What a creep...hey, that rhymes,” I said, my mind feeling more awake than it should have. I looked over at the red and black alarm clock sitting on my nightstand. The digital display showed 7:37 A.M.
62	“You're a poet and you didn't know it,” Zoey replied, turning to walk back to her dresser. She was still in her pajamas...for some reason, she always waited for me to wake up before she got dressed. I always thought it was sort of sweet. Or maybe she just preferred the comfort of her pajamas. As she started swapping out her pajamas for jeans and a t-shirt, she looked towards me sidelong and asked, “We probably shoulda stayed in last night...”
63	“Yeah, probably. I'm feeling alright though,” I said, realizing that I should actually probably be pretty hungover.
64	“Wow, really? I thought you'd be hungover for sure...I sure am, and you drank more than me,” she looked intently at me, as if trying to discover my secrets.
65	“I can't explain it, but I feel like a whole new person,” I said, sitting up straight on the edge of my bed groggily for a moment before putting my feet on the plush carpet and standing up, stretching out like a cat in the sun. I walked into our tiny bathroom, splashing some water on my face, looking at myself in the reflection of the mirror, watching the droplets of water stream down my face, tickling my dry skin as they went, following their journey along the contours of my face. I felt like I was looking at the face of a stranger: as though the little spackling of freckles around my nose and cheeks had rearranged overnight, or my eyelashes had gotten longer, or my light brown skin changed its shade. Even my jade green eyes seemed to swirl with something foreign. My legs got a layer of goosebumps against the biting early morning December air. I was wearing the same threadbare, faded extra large Pink Floyd shirt that I always wore at night, stolen from an ex-boyfriend of mine from a few years ago.
66I thought about my schedule today...monday...ugh. Spanish, Yoga, and Organic Chemistry. Then my part time job as a receptionist at an insurance office. Fucking hate that job, but it's not so bad if they leave me alone and let me work. All I want from them is a paycheck; I can't stand the leeches that work there. Thankfully, I volunteered at a no-kill shelter for dogs in the evenings on the days I didn’t work, which I loved. I had a few favorites there that I would adopt in an instant if I could. Once I got my degree and a stable job, a house…I would probably have way too many dogs. Can you be a crazy dog lady, I wonder?
67	After a long shower, I happily combed my hair and got dressed in my typical winter attire: A pair of jeans, a plain white camisole, a black turtleneck, and a long, blood red coat that stretches down to my knees with a hood lined with violet fur of some kind. Jeremy, my most recent ex, had bought it for me as an early Christmas gift last year.
68Then, almost as if on cue, I hear Zoey call out from the other room, “Hey, Jeremy just texted you! He says to turn on the news!”
69	I slumped my shoulders down mid-comb and sighed angrily. “Didn’t I tell you to stop reading my texts? That’s an invasion of privacy, you know! How would you like it if-”
70	“Shh, come look!” Zoey interrupted. She was standing in front of our small TV in front of the window, the ashen morning light backlighting the screen, making the images unclear. I drew the curtain and stood next to her, watching the screen.
71	Images of burning piles of vegetables and fruit were shown on screen, along with a black banner on the bottom part of the screen that read, “Food Germ Devastates Crops Worldwide”, then in smaller text beneath it, “Scientists researching cause”.
72	A masculine voice was speaking quickly but reassuringly as he could muster: “Officials are quick to point out that this is almost certainly a one-time occurrence and that the FDA is looking into the matter. As it stands now, the food germ's origin is unclear, but what is clear is that a majority of food supplies worldwide have rotted rapidly as a result of an as-of-yet unidentified germ that affects all known fruits and vegetables. We'll be back with more after this brief commercial break.”
73	As a sleek-looking convertible races across the screen, Zoey and I look at each other in stunned silence for a minute. We looked in each others' eyes, knowing there was something inside of us, something afraid and small, but after a long silence Zoey said, in a much quieter voice than normal, “I'm sure this is just a one-time thing...”
74	I sat down on the edge of my bed again, burning a hole in the floor with my eyes. I didn't blink. I felt light-headed. “I hope you're right,” I finally said. I'm a vegetarian, and the thought of being forced to eat meat is not very attractive. It's been so long, it would probably make me sick.
75	“I wonder where it came from...maybe it's from something they use on the plants, like some new kind of insecticide or something,” she pondered, covering the lower half of her face with one hand, wrapping her other arm around her waist. “So, if they stop using it, that should solve the problem. Right?”
76	I shook my head slowly. “I think there's something else going on...I had a really weird dream last night, too. I wonder if...” I trailed off, pursing my eyebrow. I've never experienced anything supernatural in my life, but that dream last night...and now this.
77	Zoey raised an eyebrow at me. “Jasmine. You're the most rational person I know. What are you talking about? What the hell did you dream about last night?” she said, crossing her arms anxiously.
78	“Well, I'm sure it's nothing, I just...” I trailed off again, and the news came back on. 
79	The masculine voice and images of burning produce returned: “More on our developing story...farmers from around the world are now reporting that their livestock are also falling ill, attributing the disease to the corn feed that is widely used across the country.”
80	I stood up again, my mouth hanging agape, the images of farmers crouched beside their cows and chickens, trying desperately to nurse them back to health, wiping mucusy buildup from their noses and dazed, muddled-looking eyes. Little farmer's daughters wept, their mothers standing behind them, their caring hands rubbing their small shoulders gently.
81	The camera was now back in the studio, centered on the anchor. “The FDA has released the following statement: Until further notice, the FDA does not recommend the consumption of non-organic produce, and further recommends, purely as a precaution, that the public restrict their diet to that of canned or otherwise safely preserved food, or food that does not contain non-organic fruit, vegetables, grains, or even meat,” he said, trying hard to deny his own worried expression and only moderately succeeding.
82	Zoey's face turned to fear. “Then what ARE we supposed to eat?!” she practically shouted, and turned to me with a trembling frown. Tears welled up in her eyes. My heart sunk seeing Zoey like this – she was always the strong one.
83	My 5'4 frame reached up to grab a hold of Zoey's much higher shoulders. “Zoey, listen. It's only a temporary thing. It's like you said, probably just some stupid problem they didn't anticipate with a new insecticide or something. It's gonna be okay! Besides, we have plenty of food from before this,” I said, trying to reassure her as much as I could, though I did notice my eyes darting around as they often did when I lied. Deception made me very self-aware. Something inside of me knew that this was not an isolated event. I only hoped that we, with all of our collective capabilities, technology, and human ingenuity, would emerge from this crisis healthy and sound. There is always hope.
84
85	Zoey and I skipped our classes that day, and I learned later that pretty much everyone else did too. Even many professors didn't show up. “They pretty much just said we could leave,” a friend of mine would later tell me.
86I called Jeremy back after he texted me. I’ve never been a fan of texting, really. He said he was going down to Thrift-Ease, a chain grocery store down the street from campus, since he heard it was getting chaotic, and he wanted to go check it out. I wanted to check on another store down the street, so I agreed.
87Zoey wasn’t a big fan of this idea. “You guys broke up like, 5 months ago. Why do you always hang out with him?” she complained. “And what if it’s really bad, like a riot starts?”
88“Might be exciting,” I replied, with a wry grin. “Besides, I want to make sure everything is okay at Marko’s.”
89We went to the grocery store to cautiously scout out how bad the situation was. Snow was falling lightly, the bare trees with their sickly branches swayed gently in the breeze that was coursing through the streets. A light dusting of snow covered cars, grass, but it didn’t stick on the street.
90	Thrift-Ease was just down the street from the campus, and they saw a lot of business from the student body. I've never seen the grocery store as busy as it was that day. Every spot in the parking lot was taken up, and an astounding number of students braved riding their bicycles; they were chained up anywhere the locks would fit, and people were milling around the lot randomly, some shivering from the cold, clearly dressed in haste, just hanging out, or waiting for something...I don't know what, exactly. Above the entrance to the store hung a hastily made banner written in black sharpie against white construction paper that read: “ALL of our stock is safe to eat!”
91	I saw Jeremy waiting for us, leaning against his car, a beaten-up old gremlin, in the parking lot. He was a lanky guy with a handlebar mustache and glasses. He had a tattoo of a “sad robot” on his forearm with crossed out eyes and a flat line for a mouth, along with a septum piercing on his nose. Needless to say, he stuck out from the other people in the English class where we met.
92	“Jeremy! Hey!” I waved. He was unshaved, wearing a knit cap and a ragged-looking camouflage jacket. Zoey sneered a little as he approached.
93	“Hey, Jazz. What's, uh...I mean, this is pretty crazy, right?” he said, wringing his ungloved hands together, nodding to Zoey. “Hey Zoey, long time, no see.”
94	“Hi,” she said succinctly, forcing a quick smile, then promptly making an effort to return to a bored expression and looking sidelong at nothing.
95	“I can’t believe this happened so fast. Did everyone just hop in their cars and drive here the second after the newscast?” I pondered aloud.
96“Looks that way. Typical, scared little people.” Jeremy replied.
97“Have you been to Marko's?” I asked. Marko's is another grocery store a couple blocks away, a local one run by a family of Ukrainian immigrants. It's really more of a glorified convenience store, though they do have a legitimate inventory, not just snacks and junk food. I've always been fond of the owners, and they seemed to like me too. I remember once, I walked to Marko's in the midst of a snowstorm to get some toilet paper, since we ran out and were in fairly desperate need of it. When I went to pay, I realized I had forgotten to put my wallet back in my purse (I think I took it out to let Zoey use my debit card to buy some candles online or something). I was embarrassed and angry at myself for my idiocy, but the owner, Marko, was working that night. Not only did he let me have the toilet paper for free (“Some things are just needed”, he said), but he offered to make me some hot chocolate before I left, since he was just about to make some for himself. (“Hot chocolate and snowstorms make me think of home”, he said). We drank hot chocolate and watched the wind whip the snowflakes about outside the glass cage of his business while he told me about his home in Ukraine.
98	His kindness made a loyal customer out of me ever since that day. I would always go there to shop, and over time I got to know the rest of the family: Marko's wife, Oksana, and their son, Theo (short for Theodosius). They lived a modest life in a 2 bedroom rental house right across the street from the store. I had even gone over there once, to help Oksana reinstall the operating system on their computer, after Marko told me how much trouble she was having with it. She welcomed me inside without hesitation, and even offered me some money, but I refused.
99	Jeremy nodded. “Yeah. I just got back from there. It's actually worse than this. I think they got cleaned out, said they were closed. But people are still outside waiting, or...something. Don't know what for. Maybe...”
100	I took advantage of his pause. “I think I'm gonna go check it out, make sure they're okay,” I said, my mind already on my way there.
101	Zoey interjected. “Hey, uh...you know, this is just a knee-jerk reaction. Things will probably go back to normal tomorrow. Why don't we head back to campus? We have enough ramen to last us 'til rapture anyway,” she said, putting on a hopeful, sheepish grin.
102	Jeremy and I looked at her in silent judgment for a handful of seconds.
103	“What? This is making me kinda nervous...what if there's a riot or something?” she said, starting to bite her lower lip.
104	“Nah, it'll be fine,” Jeremy said to her. “You need to relax a little, I think,” he suggested. Zoey's expression turned sour.
105	“Yeah, I’ll bet you ‘relax’ a lot, huh?” Zoey replied snarkily.
106	“Let’s go over there, come on!” I said, and started jogging towards the store, trying my best not to slip on the snowy sidewalk. About halfway to the store, I could hear noises up ahead: shouting, the sound of many angry fists pounding against glass, chains rattling. My heart pounded from the combination of physical exertion and fear, but I didn’t slow down – I broke into a full sprint. I started to sweat, so I unbuttoned my coat as I ran, letting it flutter wildly in the wind. After my adrenaline began to die down, I realized that going here alone might not be the best idea. I turned around to see if Zoey and Jeremy were near, and they were – they were running after me, though not quite as fast, shouting for me to slow down and wait for them. I couldn’t hear them over the rushing wind past my ears, which was also freezing my eyes and making them tear up. I stopped, blinked hard a few times, and wiped my eyes. They caught up seconds later.
107	“Jasmine, think about what you’re doing, okay? Don’t just run in there!” Zoey suggested as we neared Marko’s, a line of tall hedges blocking our view, but the violent noise became more distinct and terrifying. I slowed to a creep and looked around the corner, Zoey and Jeremy joining me.
108	I did think. I remembered that I had Theo’s number in my phone since he had a thing for me, and insisted on it. I put it in my phone just to appease him, really. I hadn’t gotten around to deleting it, thank god. I handed Zoey my phone and gave her some very important instructions.
109	She looked confused, but nodded quickly. “Okay.”
110	My heart dropped as I saw the crowd of people outside of Marko’s, many of them shouting things like “Why are you closing?”, “There’s still food in there!”, and “You can’t do this!”. There were about a dozen people by my count, lined up along the front of the modestly sized building, as if they were trying to find some way to break in. Another dozen or so were standing away from the front of the store, afraid to approach. Whether they wanted to interfere or were just waiting for the doors to be breached so they too could enter, I couldn’t tell. There was murmuring and pointing, but no action. I swallowed hard and started walking slowly towards the crowd from the sidewalk.
111	“Wait! Don’t!” Jeremy called after me.
112	As if in a trance, I ignored his warning and walked slowly toward the front doors, concentrating all of my courage into each step. Bertrand Russel’s words echoed in my mind: “Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear”.
113	I looked behind me one more time. Jeremy was walking after me, looking at the crowd of spectators behind us, and Zoey had joined them. I made my way toward the front doors, where the concentration of people was highest. A tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a faded green baseball cap, a gray parka and a five o’ clock shadow was holding onto the handles of the front door, as if letting go meant that they would never open again. The others seemed afraid of him, or maybe they just let him assume a sort of leadership role in this angry mob.
114	I cleared my throat. “Are they closed?” I asked in a shout, trying to put an angry streak in my voice; I would be a sheep in wolves’ clothing.
115	The man in the baseball cap replied, “They closed the damn doors and locked it up!” he yanked hard on the handle, so violently that the windows shook; I jumped a bit and almost instinctively went to grab his arm to stop him. “But there’s still food in there, they got it in the back, I bet! Savin’ it for themselves!” he pounded on the glass door, making me jump a second time. The windows shook violently again and I feared that any more aggression would cause them to shatter. “Some of us don’t have food saved up! We need food NOW!” he shouted, the others around him making grunts of agreement.
116	I stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what I wanted to say; but my nerves made it difficult. “I actually used to work here. I…If I recall, they re-stock every Tuesday, so they should have more food tomorrow,” I said to the man in the baseball cap, who turned around to look at me directly. Several others followed suit, which had a chain reaction down the line. I glanced behind me to see that everyone’s eyes were fixated on me, like a firing squad staring down their victim. My heart skipped a beat, and I took a few steps back.
117	“Every Tuesday, huh? So, tomorrow? That’s awfully convenient,” he said squinting at me.
118	“You used to work here? Then you probably know the owner, right?” said a mousy-looking man who was beside the man in the baseball cap.
119	I mustered every ounce of confidence I had to reply, “Yeah, I do. He’s a jerk. Made me work every Tuesday so I could unload the shipment while he sat on his ass playing video poker!” I crossed my arms and put on a frown, trying my best to act spiteful. A sheep in wolves’ clothing…I’m sorry, Marko.
120	The man in the baseball cap mirrored my behavior, crossing his arms and putting on a cross expression. He tilted his head to the side and stared at me, as if sizing me up. I looked past him and the small crowd gathered around him to see Theo’s tall frame inside the store, taking advantage of the momentary absence of the crowd to tape up a banner that read, “Out of stock – new shipment tomarrow”. He was not a very good speller.
121	The crowd of people behind me started pointing at the banner, and the man in the baseball cap, along with his disciples, hesitantly turned to look as well.
122	“See? Told ya,” I remarked. Zoey had done it – good girl.
123	Many of the spectators grumbled and walked away, disappointed. The man in the baseball cap ripped off his cap and slammed it onto the hard asphalt, stomping angrily. His disciples separated and mixed in with the spectators, some trudging back into their cars and driving away, others walking off down the street, some others sitting in front of the store, saving their place in line; as if camping out for the midnight premiere of a movie.
124	I waited until the crowd had fully disappeared, then ran to the front doors of Marko’s, waving excitedly at Theo, who wore a broad smile on his face from behind the glass as he quickly unlocked the doors and let me inside, along with Zoey and Jeremy. The people waiting outside looked over, but without their angry leader, they were too weak to protest.
125
126	The inside of Marko’s was desolate. The entire stock had, in fact, sold out. The ground was slick with melted snow, mud and dirt mush spread all over the place, especially high traffic areas. Random bits of garbage were strewn throughout the aisles, and it smelled horribly like body odor;  I crinkled my nose in disgust. The shelves were bare, even the cigarettes and beer were all sold out.
127	“Thank you,” Theo said, his eyes lighting up. I could tell he wanted to hug me, but he was too afraid. “I always hoped you would call me someday, but not like this,” he chuckled nervously, looking down at the floor. He was a tall, athletic guy with chestnut brown hair and eyes as deep and blue as a calm sea. He was handsome, but not exactly my type. He’d been working here with his parents since he graduated high school, but I think it was mostly because he wanted to help his parents. He told me once that he wanted to be a professional tennis player, and he could probably do it – he was on the varsity team in high school and was actually going to Morris college on a tennis scholarship. “So you must be the girl I talked to,” he said, turning to Zoey.
128	“Yeah, that’s me! I’m Zoey. Nice to meet you,” she smiled sweetly at Theo. 
129	“Oh, uh…I’m Jeremy. I don’t know if you remember me.”
130	“How could I forget you? Not many guys with mustaches like that around,” Theo said.
131	Jeremy’s mouth curled up into an amused smile on one side. “Yeah, guess so,” he said.
132	“Thank you again for doing that, Jasmine, I was watching what happened and I was this close to running out there with the berretta if that guy got any closer to you,” he said hotly.
133	“That probably would have made things worse,” Zoey said.
134	“I can’t believe it’s only been a couple of hours, and already things have gotten so bad you almost had to pull out a gun,” Jeremy remarked.
135	“Probably. I’m just glad that scene back there didn’t get out of control,” I replied, a twinge of guilt creeping into my gut about never calling him. “Where are your parents?”
136	“They’re in the back, come on,” he said, and started towards the back of the store, down a long hallway, past the bathrooms. We followed. “I told them to hide back here after the crowd outside started getting hostile. I really thought they were about to smash the doors in and come inside. It’s safe back here.”
137	We came to the storage room door, a solid metal door with a series of tarnished steel locks. Theo pulled out a keychain and started unlocking them, one at a time. “It’s me!” Theo called out.
138	There was a muffled reply from inside: “Okay.”
139	“Never be too careful, I guess,” Jeremy said.
140	“This store is our livelihood. We keep this part well-protected. And if there was ever any doubt about its value, well, now I have no doubts,” Theo answered.
141	 
142	He pushed upon the door, which showed itself to be quite thick. It was cold and metal in the storage room, with many crates of food to supply the store tomorrow. I felt a bit relieved that they would be able to open tomorrow as the sign promised – but at this point I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t want to.
143To my immediate right, there was a small office but utilitarian office, with a window that showed a solitary desk and wooden chair, along with many piles of paper, and some plain white boxes stacked around the room. There was a calendar on the wall that had a picture of a man who vaguely resembled Clark Gable but with a more rugged face and something written above him in Ukrainian. Marko was sitting next to Oksana, both chairs facing toward the window.
144Marko was around 50 years old, I would guess. He had salt and pepper hair, tassled like a mad scientist. He had a rugged, leathery face, but kind eyes like Theo. He was exceedingly hairy, with facial hair that made him reminiscent of a kindly old werewolf.  Oksana, on the other hand, was very delicate, with a petite frame and elegant facial features that reminded me of a ballerina. She looked very young for her age, which I would never dare to guess. She always had her hair tied back in a bun, making her unusually large forehead difficult to ignore. Her eyes were very small and somewhat sunken, which gave her a sort of authoritarian aura, although she was just as sweet as Marko.
145 Oksana looked quite distressed, as evidenced by the fearful expression she displayed. Marko had an arm around her, speaking to her with a reassuring look on his face. Marko had a small T.V. in his office in the corner, placed atop a tower of white boxes. He had the news channel on, the same one Zoey and I were watching earlier.
146	Theo led us into the office, where there was hardly enough room for all of us to stand. He introduced Jeremy and Zoey to his parents, assuring them that they were Jasmine’s friends, and hence worth of trust. Marko was polite, but Oksana could hardly look up long enough to regard them.
147	“Are they gone?” Oksana asked, the question clearly at the forefront of her mind, waiting to be unleashed. 
148	Theo knelt in front of his mother and nodded. “Yeah, they’re gone. Jasmine took care of them. They’ll be back tomorrow, though” he said, tilting his head to meet her downcast eyes. “But we’re safe for now, so don’t worry.”
149	“Jasmine, thank you so much,” Marko said, rising and stepping over to give me a hug, his wool jacket grating against my face. He smelled like coffee and cigarettes.
150	“You’re an angel…” Oksana added, looking up at me with a thankful smile.
151	“It’s nothing, I just…I mean, they’ll be back tomorrow. I didn’t really think that far ahead, I just wanted to stop things from…getting out of control.
152	“I’ll give you a special discount, 20%. Not on beer though. I know how you college kids are,” he crossed his arms and rubbed his chin as if in thought. “Okay, maybe beer too,” Marko laughed.
153	The news came on in the middle of a commercial, immediately drawing my attention to it. The others followed suit.
154The same anchor from before appeared onscreen. “Breaking news now as we bring you an unusual story from Italy,” he said in a skeptical tone, “a thirty-one year old woman is claiming that she can command heat and create ice out of thin air, like a comic book superhero. Now we go to a live broadcast from the Italian news network VRT for more.”
155The face of a lovely woman who certainly did not appear to be thirty-one years old appeared onscreen, surrounded by reporters like one of those celebrities coming out of a courtroom. The cameraman zoomed in on her face: she looked to be made-up, all of her thick, curly blonde hair cascading down her left shoulder, her smiling, undaunted lips appearing more pink than natural, with a gloss made more apparent by the camera lights, along with a tasteful amount of mascara and eyeliner that made her look very beautiful. She even had a slight blush in her cheeks. To be honest, I was a little jealous. She was severely underdressed for winter, wearing only a tiny-sleeved blue v-neck top that accentuated her feminine figure, along with a pair of faded blue jeans. She must be freezing, I thought. Marko changed the channels up and down to find that all of the major networks were showing the same feed.
156“My name is Cassandra Rubino, a.k.a. Cassie Nova,” she winked and gave a little wave to the camera. “I will now demonstrate what I can do.” the woman announced, English subtitles appearing on the bottom of the screen. She had a husky, confident voice, but still unmistakably feminine. Everyone around her immediately backpedalled, like oil from water. I had never seen a crowd of reporters react so quickly, and that alone aroused my interest.
157As she spoke, I was shocked to find that I understood what she was saying, even though the only language I knew was English. I looked at the others who were watching the screen, “Can you understand what she’s saying?” I asked.
158They all glanced at me, but looked back to the screen. Only Jeremy raised an eyebrow at me and replied, “No, of course not. Sounds Italian.”
159“I can understand what she’s saying…” I said, confused as I’ve ever been. I reached up to scratch the back of my head, as if I would find answers there.
160“Wait, you know Italian?” Zoey asked, looking over at me.
161“Shh, please…” Marko said, intently focused on the screen.
162We quieted, but Zoey and Jeremy’s eyes lingered on mine with quizzical expressions for a moment longer before they turned back to the screen.
163Cassandra was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a residential neighborhood, in the middle of a street. There was a significant amount of snow all around them. A large crowd of spectators stood around the reporters, filling the street. The cameraman swept his eye to either side, showing that about half of the block was clogged with people, all trying to get a better view of what was going on. Cassandra took a deep breath, a full body breath that straightened her posture.
164She crouched down, using both hands to scoop up some snow. “It doesn’t feel cold,” she said, and outstretched her hands as if to give a close-up shot of what she was about to do. It’s unclear if anyone moved closer, but the cameraman zoomed in close on her hands. “Here we go,” she said. Instantly, all of the snow melted into water, but none of it spilled out of her hands. Slowly, she moved her hands away to either side of the frame. Her fingers twitched ever so slightly, as if carefully manipulating something. The water hovered there in midair, rippling gently, as if in zero gravity.
165“Oh my god…” Oksana said.
166Jeremy snickered. “What is this, some kind of publicity stunt for the new X-Men movie?”
167“Shh,” Marko insisted.
168After a moment, the floating globule of water turned into solid ice. Cassandra reached over with her right hand and tapped on it with her left, showing that it was solid. She then moved her hands beneath the floating ball of ice and seconds later it fluffed out into a lump of snow, falling into her hands like before. She closed her hand around it, letting it squeeze out from between her fingers like play-doh.
169“I can also do things with heat and fire. Now, stand back please,” she instructed. The cameraman moved a few more feet back, and lessened his zoom so that she filled the frame once more.
170She drew in another deep breath, audible in the thick silence that was now prevalent at the scene. The air around her began to grow hazy, the way the road looks when you’re driving on a hot, sunny day. “Look at the ground,” she commanded, and the cameraman obliged.  The camera zoomed in close on her feet, upon which she wore black leather open-toed heels with three straps near the front to enclose her toes, and nothing more. She had her toenails painted blood red. Again, it looked very cold, and undeniably showy.
171The snow on the ground began to melt around her, turning into a river that ran along the street. An asphalt island was formed in the middle of the road as she demonstrated her power, not seeming to show any signs of considerable effort or fatigue.
172“I can feel the heat,” the cameraman said, making his gruff voice heard for the first time.
173Cassandra began to speak, the image starting to become noticeably shaky. “I’m going to set myself on fire. Do not be afraid,” she said softly, and brought her feet together, standing erect, with her arms at her side, a small flame formed on both of her feet, almost unnoticeable until it started to slither up along her legs, then joining together as it reached her torso, and spreading out down her arms, and finally engulfing her face and hair. The image quivered even more in the hands of the intimidated cameraman.
174Gasps were audible in the crowd as Cassandra stood there, smiling, looking from side to side, waving at the crowds, who were too stunned to reply. “It doesn’t hurt at all,” she said reassuringly. “And I promise that this is not a trick, it happened this morning after a really weird dream.”
175“What kind of dream was it?” a reporter shouted after a brief pause.
176“I was walking around in the sky on a giant mirror or something. I saw a bright light from beyond the clouds that burned my eyes and body; it felt like they just sorta melted away. Next thing I know, I’m in this hot, red place, like being inside a flame,” she recalled. “When I woke up, I knew that I could do this.”
177My heart dropped. My knees felt weak, and for the first time in my life, I fainted. 
178
179
180Chapter 2
181
182
183	For all of Somanto’s power, influence, and profitability as the world’s leading multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, their most sensitive boardroom was very low-key. It was on the  5th floor of their Corporate Headquarters, tucked away in the corner, a triangular room with  a triangular desk, around which was room enough for all twelve of the Somanto executive leaders to fit uncomfortably. This room was unique because it lacked any sort of electronic devices: no computers, television screens, cell phones, not even wristwatches were allowed in this room. Gerald Hendrickson was an unapologetically bald man in his 50s who had become the Chief Executive Officer of Somanto after 20 years of faithful service and tireless climbing of the corporate ladder. 
184“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming,” Mr. Hendrickson said. “This emergency meeting has been called in response to the crop disaster, which I’m sure you’re all aware of.”
185	The others squirmed in their seats, looking down nervously at the folders they had brought with them.
186	“I’ll get right to it. The terminator seed that was developed in 2007 has apparently been mutated, even in its current form, to a premature version of itself; something that fails to germinate into a crop at all,” he said, met with murmurs from the gathered staff.
187	“But how can that be? We tested the terminator seed extensively! It should not behave this way, godammit!”, said Richard Devarou, Senior Vice President, Global Strategy.
188	“Nobody is claiming to understand how it happened,” replied Gerald. “All we know is that the FDA has concluded that the plants are failing, and our seed is at fault.”
189	“I don’t understand. The seed has performed without incident until today,” said Jane Patricks, Global Strategy Officer. She took out a sheet of paper from her folder and slid it toward Mr. Hendrickson. “We have a 95% success rate.”
190	“We had a 95% success rate. Now we have a 95% fail rate,”  Executive Vice President, Kevin Laurich. “And now there’s a woman who can control fire, like she’s the human goddamn torch. It’s starting to look like we’re being punished. I think God is at work on this Earth, the timing is just…” he lifted a quivering hand up to take off his glasses and wipe his brow.
191	“Kevin, pull yourself together! Every problem has a solution. I think we should just drop the terminator seed product line entirely, even if it means we take a hit in our profitability,” Mr. Hendrickson said.
192	“But, sir…if we do that, everyone will know that the problem was our seeds,” Barry Freeborn, public relations. 
193	“They’re gonna know anyway, and soon. If we just bite the bullet and do a press conference now, we might lessen the blow,” Jack Franz, Corporate Treasurer. “I’ve been pulling to get rid of these horrible seeds anyway, this is where I say ‘I told you so’.”
194	“I agree with Jack. Our stock is going to plummet, but if we get rid of this terminator seed, the public might forgive us, and we can rebuild. It’s going to take time, and a massive restructuring of our business model, but it’s really our only chance,” Jose Jiminez, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability.
195	 Jane Patricks shook her head, ruffling through some papers in her folder. “No, no. We can’t. Too much of our net profit is from these seeds. We can’t just-“
196	“Greed…we’re being punished for our greed.” Kevin Laurich lamented.
197	Mr. Hendrickson stood up and leaned on the table, pointing at Kevin as if to make him ashamed. “Damn it, Kevin! You can’t be saying things like that, this is not how an executive acts! You sound like a goddamn nut-“
198	Kevin grit his teeth and wiped his brow again, the perspiration glistening. His tone was loud and abrasive. He slammed his fist on the table, and several of the gathered jumped in unison along with the folders and pens. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking! It’s like Jane said, we built this empire for ourselves on the backs of farmers, forcing them to buy seeds every cycle when they should just be able to use the seeds from their last harvest like nature fucking intended!” he stood up, his chest heaving with angry breaths. “There’s been an elephant in the room about these seeds ever since you proposed them!” he pointed at  Henry Kilborne, Chief Technology Officer.
199	“Jesus Kevin, I was just doing my job! We’re a business, and we have to grow! We need ideas!” Henry replied.
200	“Not ideas like that! Not ideas that spite the very people this company was supposed to help! I knew we’d gone too far with this proposition, but no one was willing to say it out loud, and now look where we are! We’re supposed to be people first, for chrissakes! Where did we go wrong?” he collapsed back into his seat, crossing his arms on the desk and burying his head in them. “Jesus, forgive me…” he said, weakly.
201	 There was a palpable, uncomfortable silence in the room which lasted for 6 very long seconds.
202	“Kevin is right. We need to go back to how it was before. We’ll discontinue the terminator seeds, and focus more on herbicides, soil, everything else. We’re gonna have to downsize, massively,” Mr. Hendrickson  said. A few sighs could be heard. “It pains me to say, but it looks like the hippies were right this time,” he looked over at Kevin, who was leaning back in his seat, staring straight ahead into infinite space. “Whatever or whoever caused this to happen, I think they’re getting what they want.”
203
204*
205
206	The world is blue. Down here, beneath the surface of the sea, all is blue. The fish swim past me, around me, as if I’m not even here. They are not afraid of me. None of the creatures I see seem to care about me at all. They let me touch them, pet them, hold on to them, and they never get angry at me. I close my eyes and I feel like I am in a dream here, like all those dreams I used to have where I would be underwater, but I could breathe. The water flows freely through my nose, my lungs, my throat…just like in a dream. Adults seem to be afraid of being quiet, but I like the quiet down here. Today has been like one long dream to me: I snuck out of my new home and walked straight into the sea, without seeing anyone else. I like to be by myself, because then I can go wherever I want. Here in Hawaii, I’ve seen many beautiful things, but my mother, or my big sister, or my father, they always say, “That’s enough, come on now,” or “You shouldn’t go too far, it’s dangerous”. But I’ve spent all of my life inside of a building full of hatred and ugliness. I know now that the world is full of beauty, and the sea is more beautiful than I could have imagined. The best part is, Hawaii is just a buncha islands surrounded by the sea, they showed it to me on a map. With all that water, I could swim through the ocean forever, and never see another person. (remember the orphanage well)
207(malnutrition, force fed mushrooms) Before I woke up this morning, I met God in my mind. He showed me his power and his glory, just like my family told me he would. My family…they rescued me from the orphanage in India that I lived in for my whole life until now. My mom’s name is Karen, I think. And my dad’s name is Lester. I also have a sister named Jenny who is a couple years older than me. I am eleven years old. My mom told me that, but I’ve never had a birthday. Every day was just like the one before. I had to clean the floors, the toilets, the kitchen, and some of the older boys beat me up all the time. I couldn’ t fight back, so every day I just hoped that they would not hurt me as much as they did the day before. Once they took a red hot poker from the fireplace and burned my head with it. Then they stabbed me in the stomach. I have a scar on my head that looks like a crescent moon now, and the nurses told me I would never have hair there, but it’s okay because I was going to be safe. All I remember after that was seeing the men with the orange boxes and medicine. They took me outside on a rolling cot and put me in the back of a white box with lights on top of it. That was the first time that I left the orphanage. When I woke up, there was a nun standing beside my bed. She looked like she was going to cry. She told me she would make sure that I never had to go back to the orphanage again, that she knew a family in a wonderful paradise who wanted me to be their son. I smiled at her, and she smiled too. (no emotional reaction, delayed learned reaction)
208I turned up towards the surface. I could see it up there, glimmering and shiny, so far above me. I see fish swim past in big groups, and then a shark came up and ate some of them. I let myself sink down, farther and farther away from the world above. I feel so warm, so happy. If I want, I can go really fast too, like I’m throwing myself through the water. But I like to just go along really slow. I finally landed on the bottom of the sea, all sand, rocks, shells, and skinny plants that sway along with the water. It sloped up towards the beach, but it was a long ways away. I lay down and put my hands behind my head and watched the fish swimming by for a while.
209A few minutes later, I saw an octopus above me, a red one with little purple spots on it. It reminded me of a girl, so I called it a she. She hovered above me, and she was looking at me. I could feel her looking at me. I wasn’t afraid, but I wondered what she wanted, floating there with her eyes on me, her tentacles twisting around. I waved at her, smiling. I had learned to smile pretty good since I came here. I sat up on the ground slowly and reached up to touch her on the head. She let me, but didn’t seem to care one way or the other. Slowly, she turned and swam a few feet away from me, then stopped, and turned around to look at me again. I swam after her because I thought she wanted me to follow her, and she did. She would swim a few feet away, then wait. So I followed her.
210	 My octopus friend kept swimming down the slant of the floor, so I jumped down it, and it was really fun. I pretended I was on the moon, doing somersaults in the air. She was very patient. If I got distracted, like by a shiny shell or something, she would always wait for me. I decided to call her “Squirmy”. Squirmy and I went down a little more, and then she stopped and got really close to the floor a little bit ahead of where I was. I saw something there, but I wasn’t sure what it was until I got closer. It was a human skeleton. I remembered it from school. It was kinda hard to tell what it was, because it was in this weird position, but it was a skeleton. Like, a whole one.
211	Squirmy looked at me again, then hovered down to run her tentacles along the skeleton’s arm. Then, with another tentacle, she touched my arm. I held out my arm and let her touch it.
212	“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked her. Normally, bubbles come out of your mouth when you talk or breathe underwater, but my lungs liked water just as much as air, so only water came out. I felt my voice in the water, it was only a whisper. “Are you wondering why I’m not drownding?”
213	Squirmy just kept looking at me and curled her tentacles some more. A school of tiny fish swam by us.
214	I sat down next to the skeleton, scooping up some sand and letting it fall through my fingers. “I don’t really know why not. Maybe he felt sorry for me, so he changed me.”
215	I watched Squirmy turn upside down and point all her tentacles upward, turning around to look at me again.
216	“What?” I looked up, towards the surface, wavy and blurry. “You think I should go back?”
217	She looked at me again, then swam up towards the surface. She didn’t slow down to wait for me this time. I did like it down here, but my family is probably wondering where I am. Maybe they’ll think I drowned, like the skeleton person. Maybe that’s what Squirmy was trying to tell me. Oh well, I guess I should go back - for now, anyway.
218	 I crouched down on the sea floor and jumped up, cutting through the water really fast, like I was flying. I felt like a dolphin. I could move through the water really easily, almost like second nature. I swooped down and cut through the plants and stuff on the sandy floor, speeding up towards the beach, which was getting really close. I slowed down as I came to it and floated up towards the surface on my back.
219	When I got to the surface, I took one more breath out and let the water free, coughing a little as the rest of it came out. The sun was nice and warm, high up in the sky. It was like soft hands on my shoulders. I smiled and floated to shore, laying there on my back for a while.
220	I guess I fell asleep, because I was woken up by my dad putting his hands on my chest, pushing down really hard.  I said, “Ow!” and started hitting at his hands. It really hurt! My dad had a face like he was really scared and confused, but also relieved.
221My mom said, “Ravi? Ravi, are you okay?” She was sitting in front of me with her hands under my head. My older sister was standing by with her arms crossed, looking really upset, like I’d been gone forever.
222“Yeah mom, I’m okay. I just fell asleep,” I told her.
223“You just ‘fell asleep’? Ravi, you’ve been gone for 4 hours! What the heck were you doing out here?” Some of her yellow hair fell over her eyes and she blew it away.
224“I went swimming in the sea. Then I made a friend, a red octopus with purple spots. I named her Squirmy. She showed me a skeleton on the sea floor. I dunno why.”
225She looked down like she was thinking about something, then looked at my dad. “Ravi, did you eat anything out here, like any weird looking flowers or mushrooms or anything?” she asked me.
226“No, why would I eat a mushroom? They’re yucky.”
227	“I think he ate a barbados nut; they’re mildly toxic,”  my dad said, reaching down to open my mouth with one finger. “Son, did you eat any round green things? Tasted like an almond, maybe?” he asked.  He had really rough skin, like leather, but short black hair that he always combed. Mom told me that dad gets paid to take people on walks in the country, and that’s precisely why he didn’t want me running off on my own. ‘Cause he knows what kind of dangers are out there. 
228	“No, I told you! I was swimming in the ocean,” My mom was squinting at me, like she didn’t believe me.
229	“I think he ate one of those nuts. He was probably wandering around confused. I think Ravi here went on a little, uh…trip,” he had a silly smile on his face, looking to my mom, who wasn’t as amused.
230	She picked me up and lifted me up onto my dad’s shoulders. “Come on, Ravi. We’re going to the doctor.”
231
232	Doctor Kealoha is the doctor I saw when I first came to Hilo. She’s really nice. She kinda looks like the real life version of a mom I saw in one of my doctor suess books: short dark hair, a really big smile…except, she had glasses.
233	In the waiting room, they had a TV that everyone was watching. A guy in a suit was saying something about how their seeds had turned bad and caused a lot of crops to die. People at the meeting were shouting at him. They sounded really angry. My mom and dad were whispering to each other.
234	My sister Jenny had long red hair, and lots of freckles. I think she looks like pippi longstocking, but she doesn’t like it when I say that. “Don’t worry, mom and dad grow their own food, so they’re okay,” she told me.
235	“They should hang all of those bastards,” one man said kinda loud, and then a lady put her hand on his shoulder and said something quietly to him.
236	“I’m serious! They never shoulda used those damned seeds in the first place, and now look what’s happened! Oh sure, they’re gonna stop now, after all the damage has been done. First they make guys like me throw money at them all year, and then they ruin crops worldwide! Good job, morons!” he said, shouting at the TV.
237	“Sir, please, there are children here.” My dad said, leaning forward to look past my sister and me.
238	The man shook his head angrily, and bit his lip. “Agh, yeah…sorry.” He said, looking around the room. The woman put her arm around him. 
239Pretty soon, me and my family we all sitting in the doctor’s office, and there were balloons all over the walls, and circus performers and lions jumping through hoops and stuff like that. Doctor Kealoha says this is where I get to go, because it’s a lot nicer than the other rooms, and she thinks I deserve the best one.
240	She took out the thing she called a steth-is-cope and put it on my chest.  “So your dad says he thinks you ate something bad, like a green nut. Do you remember that?” she asked, all nice like she always is.
241	“Nuh-uh, I just went swimming in the sea for a while. I made an octopus friend,” I told her.
242	She nodded at me with a smile like she wanted to laugh and closed her eyes. “Okay, then. Now Ravi, I’m gonna have to take just a little bit of your blood so I can make sure you’re okay. Is that okay?”
243	“Yeah.” I said, frowning. I didn’t like the needle, but she was really nice.
244	“Okay, sweetie. This’ll just hurt for a second, I promise.” She took out a little needle and brought it up to my arm. Then she stuck it in my skin, or she tried to. My skin didn’t let the needle get in. It felt like someone was just pushing on my skin a little. Doctor Kealoha looked really confused, and she scrunched her eyebrows. Then she lifted the needle back up, making sure it was still sharp, I guess.
245	“Is there a problem?” my mom said, peeking her head over the chair a little.
246	Doctor Kealoha shook her head after waiting a second. “I…I think this needle might be blunt. But it doesn’t look like it,” She placed that needle aside and turned around, taking out a little box from under the sink, and opening it. It was a brand new needle, I guess. She walked back over, and, after looking at it real close, she brought it back to my arm.”Okay. Sorry about that, hun. Here we go again, okay?”
247	“Okay,” I nodded, and looked over at my mom. She smiled at me.
248	This time she poked my arm with the needle even harder, but it still didn’t go through. She looked confused and scared at the same time. “This needle is brand new,” she said, then putting it down slowly.
249	My parents looked upset, more angry than anything. “Doctor, I don’t really understand what the problem is here,” my Dad said. “Here, may I try? I used to be a phlebotomist.”
250	I don’t know what a phlegm bottomist is, but Doctor Kealoha let him. “Normally I would say no, but this is an unusual case. I think your son might have a skin condition of some kind. The needle seems to be unable to pierce the skin.”
251	My dad took the needle and did the same thing Doctor Kealoha did, with the same results. He looked at me right in my eyes. “Ravi, I’m gonna try something. You tell me the instant it hurts, okay?”
252	I nodded. “Okay, dad.”
253	He pushed the needle harder against my skin, and all it did was sink in deeper, never breaking the skin. “I’m pushing really hard,” he said.
254	“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Doctor Kealoha said. “You know, there was a story on the news about a woman in Italy with amazing abilities, one of which was that she could not be injured. She tried cutting and stabbing herself, with no results. She also said that she knew there were others like her. I didn’t believe it until now, but…”
255	Then suddenly, all three of them were looking at me. “I told you, I was swimming in the ocean. I made an octopus friend. I can also make water, but it’s bad to spill water inside. I can make it go away too, though.”
256	My mom sat down against the wall, and it looked like she was having a hard time breathing.
257	“ Ravi, show us. You can do it, you have my permission,” my dad said.
258	“Okay,” I said. Then I held my hand over the side of the chair and made some water drip down from the palm of my hand. Then I made the water go faster, like a faucet. It splashed all over the floor. Doctor Kealoha walked away from the water slowly, staring at me the whole time, her hands folded over her chest.
259	“My god, Ravi…how do you do that?” my dad asked. He was leaning over me, looking at my hand.
260	“I saw God last night when I was dreaming. He did something to me, and when I woke up, I thought I would go to the ocean. I used to be scared of drownding, but now I can breathe underwater.”