Chapter 5 The Impossible

~Cassie’s POV~

I woke to the distant clang of metal hitting something solid.

My head throbbed. I must have hit it hard when I blacked out.

I sat up and looked around. Nothing was familiar.

Where am I?

I was lying on a narrow bed in what looked like a private hospital room — but old. Stone walls. No monitors. No IV. Just a wooden chair in the corner and a window with heavy curtains.

Then it came back. The house. The argument. The wave of water that slammed me into the wall.

It had happened so fast.

That was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.

But Mom did say these people had gifts.

I stood, legs shaky, and went to the window. I pulled the curtain aside and my breath caught.

Outside, kids roamed a courtyard. Some my age, some older, some younger. But they all wore uniforms. Red. Blue. Grey. Green.

Is this some kind of school?

I kept watching, trying to make sense of it, when I accidentally made eye contact with someone below. He wasn't in uniform, older, maybe twenty and he was staring right back at me.

I ducked behind the curtain, heart pounding. After a few seconds I risked another peek. He was gone.

I went back to watching the kids in uniforms until I heard footsteps approaching the door.

I panicked.

After what happened at my house, I didn’t know what to expect.

I scanned the room for a weapon. Nothing. My eyes landed on the wooden chair in the corner. Not ideal, but it would have to do.

I grabbed it, lifted it over my head. If I could hit someone hard enough, maybe I’d buy time to run.

The doorknob turned. I raised the chair higher.

The door flew open and I swung.. hard, at whoever came through.

Something invisible shoved the chair back. It tore out of my hands and crashed into the wall, splintering on impact.

I froze, staring at the broken pieces.

How is that possible?

The bald man from my house stood in the doorway. Calm. Unbothered.

“I see you're awake.” he said, glancing at the shattered chair.

I didn’t answer. I just stared at him, keeping my face blank.

“I know you must be confused about where you are,” he said, voice even.

“Did you people kidnap me? What are you going to do with me?” My voice came out colder than I felt.

“Child, all your questions will be answered in time. Everything will be made clear to you. I assure you of that. All I need is for you to trust me, and everything will be fine.”

I frowned.

Trust? Was he joking?

“You want me to trust you? You’ve got to be kidding. You people kidnapped me and brought me to this godforsaken place!”

“Calm down, child, and let us explain everything to you,” he said, still infuriatingly calm.

“And please stop with the ‘child’ thing. I’m not your child, and I’m not a child.”

“Noted. My apologies.” He gave a small smile.

“Why do you even need me here? What do you want with me?” I’d calmed down enough to ask without yelling.

“You are special, Cassie. You’re not just here for our benefit. You’re here to fulfill your destiny.”

“My destiny.” I crossed my arms. “And what could that be, huh?”

“Like I said, in time you will know. You will find out soon enough.”

“Sure. Honestly, I’d love to find out. Just let me go home and I promise I’ll keep searching for this destiny of mine from there.”

“You belong here. You’ll see.”

He turned and left the room without another word.

I sat back on the bed and stared at the wall.

Fulfill my destiny. I belong here. What did that even mean?

I gave up thinking and laid down. After a while, there was a knock.

I sat up fast.

The door opened and the dirty-blonde woman from my house stepped in. A girl who looked just like her followed... same eyes, same smile. She wore one of the uniforms I’d seen. Green.

“Cassie, you’re awake. Mr. Winchester told me he spoke with you earlier, so I decided to come get you,” the woman said.

“Mr. Winchester?” I was confused.

“Bald man. Very tall. Talks extremely calmly,” she described.

“Oh. So that's his name.”

“Yes. I should probably introduce myself as well. I’m Mrs. Stone. You’ll be seeing more of me in your merging classes.”

“Merging classes? So this is an actual school?”

“Yes. It is a school. Your school now. And my daughter, Madeline, will get you settled in.”

I looked at the girl beside her. She beamed at me.

“Hi! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Cassie. I’ve heard so much about you. I hope we can be great friends.”

She was cheerful. Too cheerful.

“Right,” I said.

“When am I going home? How long do I have to stay here?” I asked Mrs. Stone.

“Cassie, the only way you’ll be happy here is if you stop thinking about going back for now. Focus on why you’re here.”

“That’s exactly the question I’ve been asking. Why am I here?”

“To fulfill your destiny,” she said, like it was obvious.

I groaned. “Seriously, you guys are so in sync. You're all saying the same thing like you rehearsed it.”

“You know what? Why don’t you let Madeline show you to your dorm. Get cleaned up. Have something warm to eat. After that, maybe I’ll tell you a little secret about why you’re here. Deal?”

Food sounded good. I was starving.

“Fine. I’ll do what you said. But you have to tell me what I want to know after.”

She smiled and nodded at her daughter.

“Okay, Cassie. Let’s go see your room,” Madeline said, already heading for the door.

I followed her out.

We went down stone stairs, Madeline talking the whole way.

“So, Cassie, I heard you didn’t know about your gifts or this place.”

“Yeah.” I looked around, taking everything in. “What is this place? Can you tell me about this school?”

“This is a place for the gifted. Everyone here has elemental powers.”

“Elemental powers? What is that?”

“Well, some people can control and manipulate water. Some do air. Some earth. Some fire.”

I thought about the water that hit me. About Mr. Winchester pushing that chair without touching it.

“Wow. So what’s your element?”

“Come, I’ll show you.” She grinned and ran toward a patch of bare ground once we were outside.

I followed.

She knelt, pressed her palms to the dirt, and closed her eyes. When she lifted her hands, a green sprout pushed through the soil.

It grew. And grew. And grew.

In seconds it was taller than both of us, a full tree with thick branches and leaves rustling in the wind.

I stared up at it, “You’ve got to be kidding me. How is this even possible? This shouldn’t be real. This ...isn’t real. Is this real?”

“Oh, it’s real,” Madeline said, proud. “If this surprised you, wait till you see what everyone else here can do.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was impossible.

~