Thirty minutes later, a frustrated Lana set her feet back on the ground. She turned, placing her forehead on the willow branches and thanked the tree for all its efforts to help her improve and keep her safe while doing so.
She turned to her brother. "Are you hungry, Dobin?"
He laughed, "Of course! Watching you soar through the air like that always makes me hungry." He smiled at his sister.
With both of them kneeling under the tree, she began to grow plants. There were huge tomatoes, foot-long cucumbers, potatoes that could feed two and more. From her bag, she brought out cooking utensils as her brother made a small fire. She brought out her paring knife and prepared the vegetables for cooking. She put them in the pot and got them going then prepared two huge salads so they could both eat their fill once the food in the pot was done.
They sat there eating and pondered how their lives were getting ready to change, hoping it was for the better.
Upon returning to the orphanage, she returned all the kitchenware then went to her room and slept a fitful sleep. Dobin woke the minute her nightmare kicked in and wrapped his arm around her tightly and she settled down despite the tears falling from her eyes as she lost yet another friend in the depths of her mind.
The next morning, they both packed what little they owned, which amounted to a few outfits, a new uniform, and toiletries, and headed out to school earlier than usual. They wanted to scout out where they needed to go to get picked up. Their school files had been altered.
When Dens came to work at the orphanage, he had told them about Military Base 2. Fearing what could happen, he altered their file stating they had been adopted by a local family and had been moved there. Some at the school celebrated thinking it meant Dobin would finally get an ability and the twins would get clothes that fit and didn't look 10 years old. Neither of these things happened.
Even though Lana had a strong ability, they still talked about her behind her back. Her clothing was crazy. Nothing matched or fit her. At first it bothered her, but she got used to it. She even went so far as to dye her blond hair so her ponytails were two colors. The top part was green and the bottom half was pink. The rest of her hair was still blond. To make her hair even more crazy, her pony tails were tied above her ears instead of closer to the back of her head.
She decided if they were going to come at her for being different, she would embrace the part. She was shorter than brother now, being only 5'3" while he was standing at 6" even but she was convinced he was not done growing. Orphanage food was holding him back in her mind.
They arrived at their destination and were surprised to see a mansion in front of them. They looked at each other and both understood the teasing now. They wondered if anyone believed their lie.
----------------------------------------
Later that day, the twins went to the park that was across the street from the mansion. They found a clearing and Lana looked around. She then listened to see if the trees saw anyone other than them. After confirming they were alone, she placed her hand on the ground and a willow tree sprouted.
They stood by watching as it went from sprout to sapling. Then Lana decided to try something. She asked the tree to twist its inner branches so they could have a safe sleeping platform at night. They would sleep here and catch the bus Sunday morning.
They watched and smiled as a shelter built for two formed in front of their eyes. The platform was up so high it could not be reached by jumping from the ground and there were even enough branches around the outside and the top to stay dry in case there was any unforcasted rain.
She left all her cooking stuff back at the orphanage since it belonged to them anyway but she got busy growing vegetables and berries; things they could eat off the vine but still feel satisfied with their meal.
A feeling of peace washed over them in a way they had never felt. There were no piercing screams coming from the basement. There were no emergency messages coming from the trees of the "White Coats" approaching. No need to hastily grab Dobin's hand and rush off to safety or ask the trees to snatch them away from those wishing to do evil.
She knew the story of why the orphanage wanted them to not use abilities but she believed the reason to be more nefarious. If they used abilities, it would increase their chances to get away, to survive.
She didn't understand the reason for the tortuous experiments they were performing, just that they would sometimes end in death.
Sometimes the kids would come back so broken from that place they were never the same. A few broke to the point they could not even function properly. Unable to speak any longer. Unable to walk or feed themselves. One little girl screamed every time she looked at a bathroom.
Lana developed a lack of trust for adults early on. It was only through her meditations that she learned there were some good adults out there because she learned to read their energy.
She still found it difficult to function around the really strong adults even if they had no evil intensions. Dobin seemed to take it better than she did and she didn't understand it.
"Dobin, how do you not… have nightmares?"
Dobin shrugged, "I don't know. I guess because I have you. Somehow you always got us out of there. I refused to make friends with the others after a while. We would always lose them. I never understood why you kept trying to save them. They all refused to believe what kind of place they landed in. Until they experienced it themselves. Then it was too late."
"I envy you." She sighed then smiled. "We never need to go back there again."
"Exactly."
They ate and talked about the pending changes in their lives and what the potential outcomes could be so they would have plans no matter what happened. They knew bullying happened in Military school as well but the extent was heavily muted. In the military, it was called hazing and was used on those that were not performing to standards. What those standards were, remained to be seen.
Soon after the sun went down, Lana asked the tree to put them on their platform where they slept the most peaceful sleep they had ever experienced even though they had no blankets or pillows.