“How does anyone navigate around here? Everything looks exactly the same,” I grumbled as Olivia and I walked down the street.

  In the brief stroll down to the far corner of the block I’d noticed the designers had not only decided to forgo any sense of originality in house design, but they only invested in a handful of house colors. There were ten different siding colors, which were implemented in a set, repeating pattern. It made finding a specific house exceptionally difficult.

  “You’re probably not the first one to ask that,” Olivia chuckled. “I’ve noticed that not only do they have giant street signs, which direct you based upon the unit numbers, but there are maps with ‘you are here’ tags every few streets.”

  “No shit?”

  “I imagine the staff got tired of answering the same question, year after year as new families moved in,” Olivia explained.

  The two of us were headed towards the nearby market, which sat near the center of the housing district, according to Olivia. My friends had all scattered shortly after the two of us met up again, ‘so they could get familiar with the neighbourhood.’

  I did notice that they didn’t stray too far, and kept me within their line of sight at all times. Apparently the area was really putting them on edge.

  “Sooooo… What did you do to get put into the special kids class?” Olivia asked, skipping backwards so we could talk while crossing the crosswalk.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Special kids…?”

  “You know, protective custody,” she said gesturing to the tracking device locked around my wrist. “The watches are color coded. Most students get black, protective custody gets white, and special cases get silver. Since both of us have white devices we’ll have access to the emergency shelters, while other students will be locked out.”

  I stumbled slightly, gawking at the other girl. “They are? Why? Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “Of course it’s dangerous, but according to the government it’s better that students learn to face the danger early on,” Olivia explained.

  She paused for a moment, glancing around conspiratorially, before leaning in close. “I’ve heard that even those without any combat capable powers are forced to participate so they either make friends they can rely on later, or die off early.”

  “That’s cold,” I muttered.

  “Unfortunately that’s the kind of world we live in these days. A lot of people believe that since the Empowered cause Ruptures just by simply existing, they should be able to deal with the situation themselves. If they can’t they’re just making the situation harder for everyone else,” Olivia sighed. “That’s a convenient point of view to have when you, and your family members don’t have powers, but it’s pretty bad for those that get stuck in that situation through no fault of their own.”

  She slumped slightly and stopped bouncing around, falling in step next to me. “I’m extremely lucky the government believes my powers could be useful, otherwise I’d be one of those unfortunates.”

  Her mood shifted so suddenly, and she looked so down that I reflexively reached out to comfort her. Until I remembered she was the same age that I was, and how every one of my peers avoided my touch like the plague. Instead of rubbing her on the back, I just patted her on the shoulder.

  Thankfully she seemed to appreciate even that small gesture.

  “So… what is your power? Why are you in protective custody,” I asked awkwardly.

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  “I have the ability to detect instability in the local area,” she said. “Far earlier than any detector.”

  I turned and looked at her, eyes wide.

  “No wonder the government wants to protect you, detecting a Rupture before it could manifest is an amazing power!” I exclaimed. “I would have killed to have your power before getting stuck in a building with an active Rupture.”

  “Okay… I definitely want to hear more about that later, but back to my original question. What did you do to get into protective?” Olivia asked, apparently using me to shake off her moment of depression.

  “Well I wish I could say it was because I had some sort of amazing power, but the truth is I apparently don’t give off instability,” I said. “That’s how I managed to go ten years without ever being identified as an Empowered person. It took them doing a fucking brain scan before I had any fucking clue.”

  “None?” Olivia asked, surprised.

  “Not according to the bureau’s ‘best scientists’,” I grumbled. “Since they couldn’t be one hundred percent sure after a week of constant tests they asked me to ‘volunteer’ to stay here for monitoring.”

  “You don’t sound too pleased about that,” Olivia muttered.

  “Well, even though I say volunteer, it was more like I was voluntold,” I said, shooting her a small smile. “Even though they couldn’t legally force me to come here, I know they would have made my life hell if I didn’t agree.”

  “Harsh.”

  “Maybe, but it did give me enough leverage to get the bureau to agree to a few conditions… Enough to make this entire situation worth it,” I told her.

  “And on the bright side, you and I can be lab rat buddies! Huzzah!” Olivia exclaimed in mock excitement. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her exaggerated antics.

  “So you can smile,” she said, glancing over with a grin. “I was beginning to wonder if you were capable.”

  “I’m capable,” I snorted, elbowing her lightly in the side. “I just haven’t had that many reasons to smile lately.”

  “I hear that,” she muttered, shaking her head. When she looked up again her expression brightened. “Hey look, we made it to the store. I told you it wasn’t that far away.”

  I nodded, letting her pull me forward as I inspected the structure. In the sea of identical houses, it was the first unique building I’d seen. It shared a lot of similarities with the surrounding neighborhood, brick and concrete construction with secure doors and barred windows. Unlike the surrounding houses it was a fairly decent size, and had a small parking lot next to it.

  As we closed in I felt a sense of familiarity, despite never being here before. I subconsciously pulled back against Olivia, trying to figure out why I felt so unsettled. Olivia glanced back at me in concern, but I was far too focused on the building to say anything.

  Slowly running my eyes over the building I took everything in. The forest green exterior, the maroon awnings over the door and windows, and the small boxes of produce lined up by the front door.

  “Oh…” I muttered in realization.

  “What’s with you?” Olivia finally asked, letting go of my hand. “You’re acting strange.”

  “You know how I mentioned I got stuck in a building with an active Rupture?” I mumbled. “It was at our corner market.”

  Olivia tilted her head to the side. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. It was a little green place, about this side. The owner had chained up the back door, and had security glass on all the windows, so I couldn’t get out,” I muttered, shifting uncomfortably. “It was the most terrifying situation I’d even been in.”

  “Shit… how’d you survive something like that?” Olivia asked quietly.

  “I tore a shelf off one of the displays and swung it like my life depended on it,” I said, flashing her my still bandaged hands, “and…”

  “And…?” Olivia prompted. “Is it about your power?”

  I glanced back at the store. Tyberius was crawling across the roof like some rusty mechanical spider, and Hairy was pressing his face flat against the window, trying to look inside.

  “It is… but my situation is kind of complicated, and I’m still trying to figure things out,” I said hesitantly. “I’ll tell you later, promise.”

  She nodded. “Since you’re a little anxious about going inside, would you like me to pick up supplies?”

  “Supplies?” I blinked. “I thought you were just showing me around.”

  “Well, now that we’re here, it would be a shame to not pick up a slushy to celebrate new friends,” Olivia declared.

  “I don’t have any spending money,” I said quietly.

  “That’s fine, I have more than enough for the two of us. It’s a special occasion anyways.” Olivia said. “Do you have a preferred flavour?”

  “Not really. I haven’t had them that often,” I admitted.

  “One mix coming up!” Olivia exclaimed as she bounced towards the store.

  I shook my head as she disappeared through the doors. It had been a long time since I’d last interacted with someone my own age, and the whole situation had felt surreal. Still, talking with Olivia had felt nice, natural, and I wouldn’t have traded the last few minutes for anything in the world.

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