Book 1: Awakening (The VIth Element Series)

When I entered the house, the absence of life, particularly after being with Jack so long, took the meaning of 'gloom' to a whole new level. I knew that my mother and brother were still at work and my father was probably at the local job seekers centre, since it was coming up to lunchtime. All the same, knowing that I had to spend the rest of the day, my birthday, with all these experiences and thoughts zooming around my mind and not able to tell anyone any of it if I wanted to was tough. Throwing my bag down into the hallway, I made my way into the lounge. The cries of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!" nearly deafened me as I rounded the corner. As I stood there like a rabbit in headlights, painfully slowly, I registered the ecstatic faces of my all beaming at me in joy. Then, I took in the gigantic birthday banner, with my name behind them hanging over the back wall, as well as the congratulations banner hanging in the side dining room. Finally, I registered the balloons, party hats and best of all, the food on the table, topped with a homemade, chocolate birthday cake made traditionally by my grandma.

My heart and mind went into overdrive.

As I gazed into every face, I became overwhelmed, especially as I was astounded that they had gone to such great lengths to make this day special. The whole show, including food, must have cost a considerable amount of money and, in view of our present, rocky circumstances, I felt the luckiest girl in the world. Rather embarrassingly, that was when my emotions got the better of me.

At seeing me anger, my mother rushed over, paling and throwing her arms comfortingly around me.

"Oh Alex, honey, why are you so mad?" She asked, looking worried.

"I'm mad," I retorted, "because all morning you've made me feel like you'd forgotten that it was my birthday today."

As I raged, a part of me felt silly and very, very ungrateful, considering everything that my family had done. The rest of my family stood there looking awkward. When I had finished, my mother paled even more, before shooting a troubled glance at my father. After reading her face, he slowly took a step forward, his blue eyes apologetic.

He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Both your mother and I are very sorry for putting you through what we did earlier." He answered and I read the sincerity in his gaze. "After you raced out this morning, clearly furious, we realised that what we had done had been wrong but we had reasons behind it."

I stiffened.

"Reasons like what?" I retorted.

My father sighed.

"Well...we...we weren't sure if you...if you'd..." He trailed off, looking back at my mother for support. She shot him an encouraging glance before he continued. "Well...w...we...weren't sure if you'd 'awoken' because if you had, we...we were going to have a double celebration."

I felt deflated, like a popped balloon.

"W...what?" I said, overcome with shock, as I registered this comment.

Seeing my changed state, my father bent down to my level.

"We know all about Vladimir's special academy." He finally said, his eyes now swimming with remembrance at a past event when his new wife, then nine months pregnant with their first child, had told him all about her ancestors and the fact that any of his children could have 'superpowers' as she had called them. This news had been an extreme shock to the system although, eventually, he had come to terms with the crazy matter, after many sleepless nights and cans of beer. "And we know that the academy was created for extremely gifted teenagers and I don't mean gifted in the usual sense." When he saw my overwhelmed reaction, he smiled before gesturing to the whole family, who were all nodding in agreement. "We know also that you've 'awoken'. We received confirmation earlier from Vladimir himself." My father smiled. "It would be wonderful if you could show us your new powers. I know everyone's desperate to see what you can do."