Even with how much Roxanne did not like D, her intuition told her that this was not some bit or some start to a practical joke. No, he was serious, dead serious, and he was panicking.
Something about that panic, that helplessness, she saw in his eyes, lit a small fire in her somewhere deep down in a place she'd forgotten about so long ago she didn't even know the fire was there, but she felt its small warmth.
She sighed and looked at him, her red eyes piercing him. "You seriously don't know where we're going?" His eyes, just as grave as hers.
He shook his head. "No, I don't." Max leaned into D, rapidly bumping him with his shoulder to bring some life back into him.
"ooo can I explain it?" Max asked, absolutely ecstatic at a chance to help his beaten and confused friend.
Roxanne glared at him and sighed like an exhausted teacher calling on her least favorite student. "Go ahead…"
Max's wide smile widened. "Okay, uh, where should I start?" He innocently asked Roxanne.
She scowled at him. "You asked to explain it. Your choice."
"Okay, okay," he said, looking confused himself as he said, "Dad always told us to just retrace our steps if we got lost, so let's start at the beginning. D do you know which parent your glow comes from?"
"My ma' is where it came from, but they both had powers before I was born." Max's eyes widened slightly at D, a slight look of shock and assessment on his face as he said.
Max nodded and said "My mom always told me two people with the glow having a kid together was rare." He smiled as he thought about his mom. "I remember the only reason she told me that is because I didn't I want to take this girl, Sofie, to the school dance cause she wasn't-".
"AHEM", Roxanne said to cut off the incredibly long tangent as she said. "You're explaining, remember?"
Max looked down. "Sorry. Did your mom or dad ever mention where they went to college? Or maybe where they learned their trade? Or-"
The buzzer of the plane's intercom cut him off as it said "ETA 5 minutes" and then cut out.
Roxanne groaned, growing impatient with Max, the interruptions, and the entire conversation. "Ugh, I don't have time for this," she looked at D and Max, both of them silent. "Let's make this simple. I ask. You nod or shake your head." She said, waiting for D to nod silently, and he did.
"Do you know what a regular college is like?" He nodded. "Do you know what a super-criminal is?" He nodded. "Well, the place we're going is like that for super-criminals. Any questions?"
He nodded aggressively, and she pretended not to notice. Before D could ask another series of questions, they all felt the plane shake a bit. All the students could feel it changing altitude—it was getting lower fast.
A voice broke out from the far back end of the plane—one other soldier standing up. He was holding onto a handle hanging from the ceiling. "Attention all students! We will arrive at our destination shortly! When we land, you wait until I call your designated number. When I call your number, your latches will release, and you will walk down the ramp that will lower to my right!"
The soldier tapped the still-sealed access ramp with his hand and he continued.
"You will walk onto the platform where we will assign your designated testing area. We will also assign your living quarters!"
The students felt the plane beginning to lower,
Max chimed in and said, "There is nothing to worry about, I'm certain we will find plenty of ways to have fun."
The plane came to a stop with a soft thud coming from under their feet. Both soldiers stood up—silencing the excited conversations between all the students.
The soldier next to the door entered something into a pad on the wall, and there was a loud hiss as the door unlocked. Natural light finally peeking through. The first bit of natural light D had seen in what felt like an eternity. They folded outward from the plane, the sounds of the outside filling the space.
The trio's eyes were all glued to the door as it finally lowered to the outside ground with a thud. The soldier stepped out and onto some kind of landing pad. With everyone leaning forward trying to see what was outside, D couldn't even get a good look.
That's when the soldier inside called out. "Alright freshman number 001!" D heard a faint click of metal towards the front of the ship and someone's footsteps as they walked outside.
After a short while, they called out the next number. Another student got up and marched out.
D tried to remember what number the guy said he was when he took the bag off his head. It was, uh, 40 right, or was it 50?
He looked to his right side, looking a little past Max, who was also trying to recall what number he was.
"What number were you again?" He whispered to D.
D whispered back, "I'm pretty sure I was number 40. I guess that would make you Roxanne number 39 and you number 41."
"You've got that wrong, dreads." A voice said to him.
D turned to look at Roxanne as he said "Oh, so we're doing nicknames now, Roxy? Nice to know."
She didn't take her eyes off the door and the students at the front being called as she spat, "That wasn't me, and do NOT call me that."
That's when D noticed the girl across from him was not only awake but staring at him.
"Yeah, you've got the number thing all wrong bud. It's not numbered by row. It goes back and forth, so the goth is number 38, I'm number 39, and your number 40, and so on."
D blinked at her. She had dark red eyes, at least a few shades darker than Roxanne's. Her hair was long, straight, messy, and an unnatural shade of white. Her face was soft and round, but her teeth were longer and sharper than normal. Now that she was awake and moving, her shoulders seemed wider than his, and the holes in her shirt gave a view of a toned and lightly tanned body.
She stared at him, and he nervously avoided her gaze. "Oh shit, really? Thanks, I guess."
She smiled slightly and replied, "Don't mention it." The number of students now in the seats were to half as the soldier called out, "Number 38!