Jace rolled his eyes at Natalya while the older woman gave him an apologetic smile which caused him to immediately look down avoiding her eyes.
"Sonia" The sturdy man muttered a light scolding at his wife. Jace couldn't tell but the woman's ability was activated on him.
Natalya's mom, Sonia glanced at her husband who slowly shook his head at her before turning to her daughter on the bed.
"So what happened this time? Who was it you heard, what did he say?" she asked a series of questions displaying her familiarity with Natalya's situation.
"I don't know who it was" Natalya started and then a crease appeared on her brows as her expression turned somber. Her words slowed as she tried to remember what it was she felt before falling into a seizure.
"He sounded...felt empty like clear glass, only he wasn't clear. He was so full of hidden malice, pain, and wrath. Like he wanted death and destruction but he isn't destructive. I can't explain it. At the end he said something about killing some boy and his heart flooded with powerful killing intent, I couldn't handle that," she looked up at her mother when she finished.
"Nat, that must have been a really powerful Super. Someone who shouldn't be anywhere near a school, the fact that you could hear him at all shows just how powerful you are" her father encouraged. Stepping forward towards her head, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Did you hear the name of the kid?" Sonia asked gently trying not to put too much pressure on her.
"No. Only that he lives in a place they need to get into to retrieve some vial, they don't want anyone to know that they've been there. You have to help him Mom, he doesn't have long, less than seven days" Natalya pleaded.
"I'll do my best I promise. You just stay and rest, your father will go take a look at the library, maybe we'll find something"
Jace watched Natalya's parents leave and then turned to her.
"Your parents are quite different from how I imagined them," He said returning to his seat beside her bed.
"Disappointed?" Natalya smiled at him.
"No, I just mean they are not as intimidating as some feel about the Tuckers. They feel normal, except of course for their looks which is something else. You are like the merge between your father and mother, that Natalya shouldn't even be allowed by whatever rules govern nature"
Natalya's smile widened in amusement and she tilted her head while her pupils danced in her eyes.
"I can't tell if that's a compliment or you lost it from seeing my mother"
Jace's eyes widened and he simply stared at her for the next few seconds, then he said, "I just mean Natalya that you are extremely beautiful"
"Extremely?" Natalya asked teasingly.
"Very"
"Just very?"
"Okay Lovebirds that's enough, I need the bed. Up up you" a stern voice interrupted as a middle-aged woman in scrubs walked in, her hands swaying beside her like a cartoon character.
She reached the side of Natalya's bed and stared right at her.
"True as always Aunt Carol" Natalya rolled her eyes and rose from the bed.
Aunt Carol was not a friend but she was very familiar with the Tucker family. This wasn't the first or tenth time Natalya's ability was landing her in the hospital. Sometimes she heard things she wasn't meant to and the result was physically damaging to her.
Aunt Carol was the one person she never had to use her ability on, one reason was that the woman was always direct and there was something about her that demanded respect so that everyone else reciprocated.
Jace was surprised at how quickly Natalya recovered but he wasn't going to be asking any personal questions, they'd only met today after all.
Walking out of the hospital, Natalya stole a glance at Jace.
"I'm sorry," she said breaking the tense silence between them.
"Hmm?" Jace turned to her in confusion.
"My parents are snobs" she replied.
Back in the room neither of the Tuckers had given Jace any attention or asked him any questions, almost like he didn't exist.
"Oh?" Jace taped the back of his head. He hadn't thought about it and only considered it normal.
"It's okay" he smiled at her as they stepped out of the hospital and into the darkness.
Jace froze in shock, his eyes fixed on the starry night sky, "Wow, my Dad will kill me"
Natalya opened her lips to say something but before she could, Jace was gone having teleported away.
"It was nice to meet you," she said waving at the spot from where he had disappeared.
*****
In the Western part of Unity lay a small isolated forest, what remained of an Animal Reserve of the Old World. Right in the middle of it, an old building wethered down by time and natural forces stood proud. Its walls, covered in creeping grass and moss plants. Whatever spots remained clear revealed a dull white mixed with greenish substances or splashes of blood.
Thick vines covered the building and in the middle of it where an open courtyard was, a mighty tree stood, its branches covering the entire building beneath it like a mother hen would her chicks.
But despite the tree's efforts to protect, the building was on its last blocks, partly due to the tree itself.
Within the building, lab equipment sat on desks once pristine but now fading to age, and some lockers had chemicals either expired or sustained depending on their nature. Still, some rooms remained untouched, protected from the effects of rain and sun, from the wandering feet of roaming creatures and creeping roots and branches of vines or plants.
One room however was clean and neat, the effects of neglect seemingly non-existent for it, and yet the door was only made of wood and in fact, a gap could be seen under. The vines approaching it were cleanly cut by the doorstep and hinges so that while it was surrounded with greenery, the door itself remained white and clean.
And beyond it was the home of a simple teenage boy.
Sitting on his bed, his eyes stared right at the wall as if he could see through it. The pupils of his eyes ever-changing, from the cunning of a snake to the round ugliness of a goat and the insightful beauty of an eagle. It shifted and changed, one of different creatures at every minute till it settled and stopped as a normal human pupil.
His irises, a tinge of wine red gave him a mystical look, coupled with his long black hair which fell to his shoulders.
Handsome masculinity radiated from him. Broad, lonely shoulders, chiseled chin covered by a neatly trimmed beard, and muscles as if sculpted by one divine. He appeared simple and yet there was a feral air around him perhaps brought on by the position in which he sat which was not different from how any human would when they dangled their legs at the edge of a bed but somehow he seemed ready to pounce even in this seemingly defenseless position.
His ears twitched like a dog's and suddenly he turned his gaze to the door, a crease appearing on his brows and yet seeming like a tiger baring its fangs. Springing up from the bed he instantly shifted into a bird flew towards the door and shifted into a wasp before disappearing from underneath it. All this happened in the span of a few seconds. Yet, the room suddenly felt like no one had been in it for a long time.