Return To Pandora: Book 1 in The Pandora Series (6 page)

Princess Jacquelyn

Zack and I met inside the warehouse with Leah, Shanieza, Joshua and Elizabeth. We had our four personal trainers there along with Katherine, my mother and Zack’s dad John. Two of the trainers were Olivia and Derek and the other two were both female. Their names are Jenny and Destiny. Their parents were there as well but my mother, the Queen, addressed them all and told them all what was to happen. She assumed that their parents had all informed them of who they were and what they were destined to do. Since they were all at the party last night, they all knew that I was the Princess of Pandora and that I would be in charge.

Most of them aren’t in their sixteenth year yet, so they are all learning hand to hand combat. Most of them will have around two months of training before we make our return to Pandora. Which means that it will mostly be up to Zackary and me to defeat Christina. I know their hand to hand combat will help, but I don’t want to have their lives on my hands either. So I want them to train with weapons of every type and try to get their powers to come in early.

“Today we will show you what we can do and what you will soon be able to do. I ask that you don’t try it unless you already know you can do it. I have been training for this for a week already and Zack is the one who has been helping me, since he has been training for six months. He will show you what he can do and then we will start our hand to hand combat. Each week we will train a little bit differently. This week we will just use our hands, next week we will use a sword and so on. We will train with various types of weapons and once we have gone through all of them, we will go back to the beginning. If you don’t get your powers before we leave, exactly six months from today, you will really need these skills to help you. I do not need your safety to be something I have worry about while I try and defeat Christina. Got it?” I said looking them all in the eyes to let them know that I wasn’t joking, I will not have them slacking off while I’m trying to help save their lives.

They seemed to understand me because they nodded their heads at me.

Shanieza said, “Show us what you can do.”

I proceeded, making sure I used my hands as I tried to make things around the room move. I felt Zackary do the same and I tried to make the sheet of metal he was moving above his head move onto him. I held my mind closed on purpose so he wouldn’t know what I was thinking and I was able to move his slightly before he pushed out with all his strength. It was coming right at me and all I could do was swipe my hand at a metal rod on the right of me. I used it as a bat and hit the sheet away right before it would have collided into me. I used more strength than I thought because I sent it flying into Zack and he flew back into the wall and landed on the floor with a thud.

He stood up looking like he was in pain but with a huge grin on his face.

I laughed at him and all I heard was, “Wow!” from everyone watching. If only they knew what we could really do, they would be beyond wows, I thought as I walked toward Zack to check him for injuries. When I got to him, he was still smiling.

I wanted to wipe that corny looking grin off his face, but instead I asked, “Are you alright?”

He looked at me baffled, as if I just asked him to borrow a million dollars. “Alright?” He asked. “I’m better than alright, that was amazing. We haven’t tried that yet and I wasn’t expecting that to happen. Let’s do it again,” he said sounding a little too eager to get the crap beat out of him again. “I heard that and just so you know, I don’t want to get the crap beat out of me again, I just want to try that again.”

He whispered that last part since I really didn’t say anything out loud and no one knew of his mind reading capability and I wanted to keep it that way.

“Later, right now we fight,” I said as we walked towards the group of people waiting to start their training.

I don’t know what I was expecting from the others but they complied and trained as hard if not harder than Zack and I were training. It was good to see them sweating from all the effort they were putting into this. It was our lunch break and we all sat on the floor in a circle eating and talking.

I have no idea if it’s because of our new titles but I felt like I was being treated differently by Leah and Joshua, who always seemed to think they were better than me because they were popular and I wasn’t. I didn’t need anyone anyway, all I needed was my best friend and that is still all I need today. My mother seems to think I need all these sixteen year olds risking their lives with me. I don’t like it and I know it’s something I have to deal with right now, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it either.

Joshua was throwing a tomato at Shanieza while she tried to pour her water over his head and I couldn’t help but think that they shouldn’t be involved in this, they’re just kids. I can’t even really consider them my real friends since the only reason I got invited to anything by any of them was because our parents were friends. So it’s not like I could count on them to have my back like I could Zackary.

Even before our relationship took the turn into romance I could always count on him to have my back and help me if I ever needed it. These people are just a part of my life because of who my mother is.

Joshua was this tall lean kid. I was always around him growing up, but he was a bully and I didn’t like the games he liked to play. His golden blonde hair and gray colored eyes had everyone fooled. I knew he was a bully from day one, but he used his looks and charm to make people believe the best in him.

Then we have Leah. Miss Leah was always a goody to shoes. She would suck up to the teachers to get them to like her. With her strawberry blonde hair and green eyes she stood an inch or two shorter than me leaving her at five feet three inches.

She was nice to me in the beginning of our years together. Then she became popular amongst the preppies and left me and Zack alone. I guess I couldn’t blame her, her cheerleader status was amazing because she was one of the best. She was able to fly higher and spin in the air more than anyone else on the squad. They all envied her, which helped her get to her popular standing.

Shanieza, she was a little different, not really fitting in with anyone but fitting in with everyone. A chameleon going from one crowd to the next. She was forced to be my friend as a child and when we entered junior high she abandoned that and left to hang out with people she preferred to be around. She has tanned skin and her natural hair is medium brown, but she has died it so much over the years that I don’t think anyone remembered what she looked like before.

She was Leah’s height too and currently had red and blue highlights in her hair with what looked like hits of purple. She had been hanging around the gothic people a lot lately and that’s how she was able to blend in with them. Her brown eyes were also constantly changing. She wore glasses but preferred to use contacts and preferred to use colored ones. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the colors because her eyes are so dark, but she likes them.

Finally there was Elizabeth. She left me and Zack because of peer pressure. She still comes around to say hi every once in a while when she knows no one is watching her. I don’t know what they threatened her with, or how they got her away from me, but she was scared enough to ignore me for months before she finally said sorry to me. No explanation just sorry as she passed me in the hallway.  I told myself I was going to kick whoever did this to her because she really was a sweet little girl.

I wonder now if it was my powers coming on early that freaked them all out. The only one who I never really had fights with or problems with was Zack and now look at him! He’s been into his powers for six months and we never once scared each other away.

Liz had curly hair that was chestnut brown. She had one freckle on her cheek under her right eye and her eyes were amber colored. She wore glasses too with square looking frames. They complemented her features perfectly. She was an inch shorter than Leah and Shanieza with very pale skin. You would think by looking at her that she rarely went outside, but she did, she just didn’t get any color.

After they were done playing with their food, I got up and started running around the room. I couldn’t sit there anymore and watch them fool around with each other anymore. I ran about three laps around the building before I realized that everyone was following me. I don’t know how long they were following me, but they all kept up the pace with me quite well. I gradually increased my speed to see if any of them would slow and to my surprise none of them did. We ran around the big, now empty warehouse about ten times before I stopped and plopped myself down on the cool stone floor.

“So is running usually part of your routine or do you just like to run?” Elizabeth asked as she sat down next to me, with the same look of exhaustion on her face.

Liz and I didn’t talk much, she was nice to me when her other friends weren’t around and I did consider her more of a friend to me than the others.

“I usually start out by running, but I do love running it helps to clear my mind,” I told her after a few deep breaths to make my breathing a little easier.

“I see,” she said and looked at the others who were panting worse than her and I were and then back at me. “I’m not sure they share the same enthusiasm about running as you do.”

Chuckling I nodded my head in agreement and stood up. I held my hand out for her to grab it so I could help her up and she took it.

“Alright so now we continue where we left off. Only this time we separate into groups of two. You will try blocking anything your opponent throws at you while trying to take them down.”

I looked at all of them and I thought it would be best to pair a guy with a girl so they could learn more physical strength, except there weren’t many guys. “Josh you and Leah are paired together, fight over there by the left rear corner. Shanieza you and Derek are together in the right front corner. Liz you will fight with Zackary in the left front corner. Olivia and I will take the last corner.”

They all nodded their heads and took their positions with their partners. I had been practicing these moves for a week already and I didn’t want to continue, I wanted to practice my powers. So I picked Olivia so we could use our powers on each other. I could learn what it was like to face someone with mastered abilities as opposed to Zackary’s powers, although strong, were not yet mastered.

“I want to practice my powers,” I told her as I walked towards her. I knew she wouldn’t mind, but I also knew that she would try to make me use my mind. As long as I didn’t forget to move my hands I should be fine.

“Ok, but I warn you that I won’t hold back,” she said, knowing full well that I would need to tap into my maximum potential to get her on her ass.

“That is exactly what I want,” I said sounding too confident, almost cocky.

“Ok then, let’s go.” 

So we walked out back to the empty parking lot. This was where we had our first battle, when I used the river to help me defeat them. Today however, I am more prepared and she won’t get away from me that easily. I will fight until I win if I have to.

We barely closed the door to the warehouse when she threw me against the wall. I landed with my back hitting an old nail. I felt it pierce my skin and I had to hold back the scream that threatened to come out of my mouth. It will heal and I don’t need to let her know she’s wounded me already. So as I held in the pain I shot back at her with all my strength and threw her against a tree. I heard a sound like the tree cracking as I held her in place. I felt her try to move me and I shot glares at her hands as they moved side to side, to keep me from being tossed aside again.

I must have missed her slight hand movement because I felt myself get thrown to the left and before I landed on the ground I swung my arm out to get her back up to the tree.  Using my mind and my arms in sync I was able to keep her hands against the tree so she couldn’t move them.

She’s a clever punk though, because she used only a finger and moved me enough to get free. I was about to throw her to the side when she had me against the wall of the warehouse. I had my whole body pinned tight to the wall and I couldn’t move any part of it.

Shit! She has me. Then I thought about it, I don’t need my hands. If I can picture it I can make it happen. So I closed my eyes and called on my powers. I wanted to move my hands so I called the wind, even though there wasn’t much, I just need a little to push her back enough to get my hands free.

When I feel the wind swirling around my head I release it towards her. Her wide eyed expression didn’t escape my notice but she quickly recovered. Before she had a chance to fight against it she was flown about a foot away. My hands got free and I jumped to the ground and rushed at her, fire forming in my hands.

What? Fire? I thought as I silently panicked.

I tried to put it out, but no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to go out, so I yelled to her, “DUCK!” As I let the fire free from my hands and aimed directly at her.

She looked at me and as she ducked she rolled out of the way so the fire wouldn’t get her at all.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t even trying to conjure fire, I was just so pissed that you had me again, I think my rage set it off,” I said to her as I finally got the fire to stop coming out of my hands.

“Jackie, you need to be more careful with that power of yours, you could seriously hurt someone when you’re not trying to. What if you didn’t scream at me to duck?” She asked me seriously. Then she said, “I’d probably be a burnt piece of toast by now.”