I was still breathing. I distinctly remember dying.... How was this possible? I groggily opened my eyes and looked around. I was on of the 12 cots in the room. They were lined up under a huge mural of the gods. The bright lights illuminated the rectangular room. I was the only person in the room.

Was I dead? Was this the land of the gods? How did I even get to the land of the gods; I'm a jerk. Was the land of the gods a room with 12 cots? This sucked.

 I noticed the sickly stench of vomit and medicine. I realized I wasn't dead, I was in a Veronian hospital. I had never been in one before, but I had heard about sick kids going here. Nothing in my body hurt anymore, I pulled the blanket off my shoulder and noticed that except for some dark bruises there was no sign that I had ever been injured.

 The door on the far end of the room opened and two people walked in. One was a spindly woman who was pulling a cart full of needles and syringes. She was in her mid- thirties and wore the uniform given to Finian servants who were servers of the Veron healers. She was cowering in the presence of her companion. He was a muscular man of short stature who stormed into the room as if he owned it. He wore a military uniform covered in medals that clinked as he walked. “Where is he?” The man bellowed, his eyes scouring the room.

 I felt my face redden with embarrassment, even though there was no one in the room besides us, except for the Finian woman. Gambit could be so overzealous when it came to… well everything. He really was less embarrassing most of the time though. Actually I just lied, he is embarrassing and overprotective most of the time.

 “Over here.” I said, raising my hand a little. He locked eyes with me and smiled broadly.  He  pounded over to me and slapped my shoulder with the force of a well aimed punch. I flinched, but Gambit didn't notice as he went on grinning.

 “Good to see your still breathing, my boy!” He said plunking onto the cot beside mine so hard I heard a loud crack.

 We both froze as the Finian woman got an annoyed look on her face, Gambit pulled a large gold house token from his pocket and handed it to the woman, smiling and putting a finger to his lips.

 She ripped the token from Gambits hands. She had probably never seen a token of that worth. I had’nt either until Gambit explained one day how he got in to see me. He had said to me that when I grew up and left the Growth Center, food, clothing  and objects were no longer free. You worked for your pay from the government, and you were paid in tokens that were for a certain necessity. Each token had a certain worth and poor people would have to save a long time to get something because my father was a general, he was paid a great deal and therefore had a lot of tokens to spare. As it had the countless other times I had seen Gambit bribe people, the woman’s jaw dropped as she looked at the coin. She nodded quickly and hurriedly exited the room.

 After the door closed my sire turned to me. People said we looked freakishly alike, we both had the same tan skin complexion and the same light brown hair that was only about a shade darker than our skin. We had angular faces, and similar facial features, but we had our differences as well. He had brown eyes, unlike my mismatched blue and green ones. His build was also much more stocky than my wiry one.

 A heavy silence hung over us- well me anyway. My sire seemed fine. "What happened?" I found the words to ask, "How am I still alive? I- I thought I died." I felt a tremor of fear as I remembered the water closing over my head.

 "But you're not dead, so smile." He grinned, roughly tousling my hair. I didn't understand why he always seemed to find the need to touch my hair, I mean it wasn't like especially soft or anything. The gesture greatly annoyed me. I tried to bat his hand away, but was met with a sharp slap across the face.

 "I am your fa-" he seemed to catch himself, "I am your sire and I can touch your hair if I want to." He said this smiling as if he was completely oblivious to the fact that my face was probably going to swell to twice its normal size now. It was times like this that Gambit really concerned me. He just seemed so emotionally detached... I mean he was always smiling. Always. I could understand hitting someone out of anger or even fear, but Gambit seemed to of just done it because he could. I wondered if he was like this on the battlefield, if he skipped through the bullets, gleefully stabbing his enemies and rubbing their hair.

"But Gambit, seriously, what happened. Did Barricade and Wilder pull me out at the last minute or something?" The idea seemed unlikely but it was about the only reasonable one that came to my head.

 "No, no. Nothing like that. Your device went off. Very clever using the recalled bolt, mind you, I'm not sure I could of thought of that. Anyway, basically, they sent the firemen to come put whatever it was out, they saw you go under, and they pulled you out. Nothing CPR or the healers couldn't fix." He said absent mindedly, he started bouncing a little on the broken cot. It squeaked as he went up and down.

 "Wait- I never got the chance to set the genetic bolt and the wire up....." I said, running through the plausibility of it going off on random in my head. It was impossible. But that would have to mean someone had started the fire for me, it was only me Barricade, Lachlan, and Wilder in the room. They were trying to kill me, why would they of set it off? If they didn't set it off, then that would mean there was a fifth person in the room which was even more impossible!

 "Well either way, it went off. Maybe when you were sleeping you accidentally nudged the wire into place, maybe it you set it up and forgot, maybe it was an act of the gods, who knows!" Gambit said playfully, as if unaware of how serious this was, though when he spoke again it morphed into pride. "The Guardians heard about the incident, they took interest in it."

 I felt my face flush, "Why? I mean I just got my rear kicked..." I said embarrassed, because I totally wanted to be noticed for nearly dying- not. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself for being so stupid as it was, let alone if I was remembered for it.

 "Firstly, in your defense you had a separated shoulder and were food deprived- they ate it on you?" He paused and looked at me questioningly. I slowly nodded, not feeling any better. "Secondly," he continued "You figured a way out of it. The system for sorting you stank this year, like I think seven or eight kids got ganged up on like you and were killed-"

 "What? Killed?" I felt my mind involuntarily flip to Colbolt. She seemed like the type to get picked on- Ugh, no stop it Wesly. You don't care. End of story. Now shut up brain, I thought angrily to myself. I distracted myself by looking at Gambit. He looked startled and I instantly got the notion that he wasn't supposed to know that, either that or I wasn't supposed to know that.

 "I misspoke." He said harshly telling me the subject was not to be pushed. "I meant to add that they all  saw the video of you beating the big kid on the computer as well- that was a really nice roundhouse kick. That's the nice thing about being short, once you get trained you are twice as deadly because they underestimate you. And them you destroy them." He laughed, "Tall people are so stupid." Then his eyes narrowed and he got a vengeful look on his face, his smiling vanishing for the first time today. This was not a good sign. I expected him to go into his signature ‘down-with-anyone-who-dare-grow-taller-than-me’ rant, but he pulled himself out of it and locked eyes with me. “How has your anxiety been?”

 The question took me off guard, he didn't typically like to discuss my disorder. It was like an unspoken vow not to speak of it. “Its fine.” I lied, truth was it was getting progressively worse and there was nothing I could do about it.

 “Why are you lying to me? Your mother had it, it was never ‘fine’.” He demanded looking at me sadly, his smile gone.

 I bit my lip uncomfortably. “Alright fine. Your right. Its getting worse. Happy?”  I said, my voice tight. I should of stopped there, but I didn't, I couldnt. “Its like normal, everyday issues that shouldn't scare me do. Its on and off too, like sometimes when I should be scared I’m not, but most of the time my heart rate is through the roof so much I can't even think straight. I hate it! I’m such a coward! I- I can't help it! ” I spilled, feeling my eyes brim with tears from frustration. I had all I could do not to start bawling. Wonderful. Not only was I a coward but I was on the brink of crying like a little girl.

 Gambit appeared uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.” I stuttered, wiping the tears from my eyes. Oh gods I was such a baby. I took a few deep breaths shoving every feeling of sadness to the back of my mind, then looked up again, pretty sure I was safe from breaking down completely.

 “Ok, well then. I was hoping for better news, but I was going to warn you about when you're tested.” He started, I raised my eyebrows and looked at him questioningly, but I was dreading what he was going to tell me. I knew from the way he looked away from me as he spoke, the way he clasped his hands together that it was bad. “You can't let them know about it, the anxiety I mean. If they know they will sort you into Finian before you can bat an eye. I dont’ care what you have to do Wesley, disguise it, fight it, you have to overcome it. You have be stronger than it. You have to learn to be fearless.”

 I looked at him, shaken by this new information, “How does one do that? Learn to be fearless I mean? Aren’t you either born terrified or born brave?”

 “Well,” Gambit said, “I don’t know, thats something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. I can’t help you out there, being scared was never one of my battles. I did hear someone say that it was impossible to be brave if you aren’t scared, because bravery is the act of overcoming fear.” He paused thoughtfully “I don’t want you to feel weak because you are battling something. Every man on this earth, even the ones who seem perfect are fighting something, some demon that lurks in the corners of their soul. Don’t you ever forget that. No one is invincible.”

 I nodded, feeling a knot form in my throat. “Battles can be lost though.”

 Gambit nodded, “Yes battles can be lost, but the war isn't won until one side surrenders.”

I looked away feeling a mixture of emotions that were threatening to explode. I needed to get away from this subject before I melted down. “Gambit, can you give me any other advice for my test later? Like what I should expect?”

 Gambit started to say something but stopped himself and sigh. “Now Wes, you know I can’t do that. I’ve really already said too much to you about life after the Growth Center….”

 “No you havent. All you've told me is about tokens and your job, which is virtually nothing.” I pointed out. As much as Gambit loved to talk, it was rarely about himself or life outside. I pestered him a lot, but he was pretty tight lipped. I got the feeling that if he said too much that something bad would happen to him, or maybe even both or us.

 “Thats more than the other kids know, so quit asking me Wesley. I ain't budging.” Gambit said his voice daring me to bring it on. I knew that I didn't stand a chance of getting anywhere charging Gambit head on, If one wanted information from him you’d have to silently creep up from  the side. I knew Gambit slipped up a lot, he’d spill little bits and pieces, but I had zero clues on what to make of those little pieces. So the I barely knew anything useful in conclusion.

 “Why are you so obsessed with knowing about life after this stage anyway? When I was your age, all I was concerned with was getting the newest device and beating all my friends at arm wrestling.” Gambit laughed heartily as if I had just cracked a joke or something, which I had’nt. Maybe he was laughing at some long past memory from his youth.

 “Arm wrestling?” I asked instinctively jumping at the new information, barely processing the rest of the statement.

 “I’ll answer you after you answer me. I dont think I can get in trouble for talking about arm wrestling.” Gambit said, looking at me expectantly for an answer.

 I thought. I thought long and hard. I had no idea. Why was I so curious. Maybe it was because I had no idea what to expect, that the future was an swirling abyss hovering threateningly above my head. Maybe it scared me. “Well.” I started, trying to formulate the best explanation possible. “The only way you can truly be ready for something is if you know what's coming and how to prepare for it. I dont want to be taken offgaurd.”

 Gambit nodded cocking his head to one side as he thought about my answer to his question. “Never thought about it like that.” He said with a bit of uninterest “Now arm wrestling!” He ever present grin seemed to get wider if that was even possible. “ Awww how I miss this! This was just a sport kids used to play when I was little.” He looked around, his eyes scoured the room for something, then locked on the cart with the syringes on it. He stood up and made his way toward the cart as I watched curiously. With one swipe he knocked everything off the top of it clearing the surface. “Ops. I don't think anyone will notice.” he said, though it was clear he had done it on purpose.

 Gambit then wheeled the cart over to my cot and sat back down where he had been sitting previously. He placed his arm on the flat surface of the cart in an upwards position. “Copy me.” he said. I sat up unsure of what to expect, hesitantly I placed one arm on the table.

 “No the opposite arm.” Gambit yelled, a bit frustrated. I switched and  he grasped my hand. “Ok on the count of three you are going to push against my arm with all your might, ok?”

 “Wait- What?” I asked confused. Gambit didn't seem to care, his eyes were wild with excitement for whatever happened next. “3…. 2….”

 “Gambit I don't get it!” I said desperately the second he screamed “...1!” and slammed my arm onto the table.

 “Ow!” I yelled ripping my hand from his and grasping it was it throbbed. Gambit looked at me, his smile really more of a grimace now. “ You were supposed to push back.” he said disappointedly. “Like its a test of strength. The stronger one pushed the weaker ones arm to the table.”

 “Oh. Now I get it.” I said,the information clicking in my brain as I visualized the process in my head. “Can we give it another shot?” I asked looking at him and he grinned, resetting his arm on the table. I took his hand and he counted down, this time their was a little more of a fight, but Gambits years in the army had served him well and he pretty easily pegged my arm.

 “I win!” Gambit yelled joyously throwing his arms in the air in triumph. “Wanna go again?” He asked.

 I nodded.I hated losing, even to a older man who could kill men with just one finger. I was going to crush him. “Yeah.” I said putting my arm on the table, ready for him.

 Thats how we spent most of the afternoon, Gambit pegging my arm on the cart time after time and then screaming “I win!” so loud he must of been heard two or three rooms down.  Despite the fact I kept loosing, I did have fun on some level just spending time with him.  However, all things come to an end and this did as well. Quite suddenly actually, with the door opening and a loud strangled gasp came from the person who had opened it.

 Gambit, startled, turned to see what it was, I acted quickly seeing my opportunity and slamming his arm to the cart. “I win!” I yelled loudly, bathing in my hard won victory.

 “Wesly, please stop yelling like a barbarian. As for you Gambit I am surprised, teaching an instrument of Xaron to a innocent child! You arent even supposed to be her. You know the rules; no sire may have contact with his or her children. You should be ashamed of yourself!” A mans sarcastic voice rang out. I turned, now startled myself to meet eyes with a tall weasle like man in a dark violet robe. He moved toward us, his steps were so fluid it looked like he was floating. I instantly disliked him.

 “I didn't know arm wrestling was an instrument of Xaron…. It was perfectly alright when I was young.” Gambit sneered sarcastically, though there was a coldness to his voice. The two men clearly knew each other.

 The man reached us, he glared coldly at Gambit. “Times have changed. You are no longer my superior. I am working for the guardians now, as soon as old Evicia Lyveen Falconess dies, I’ll be head of the Xiomaran branch. That means your days are numbered, Gambit.” He spat at him.

 I felt my anger begin to well up inside me. How dare he threaten my sire. If this snakelike man  was not my senior he would of been on the ground greeting his teeth knocked out right now.

 “I wouldn't hold my breath, Evicia Lyveen Falconess is a trucker, she isn't going anywhere fast. Luca why are you here?” Gambit demanded, standing up to his full, unimpressive  5’6 height, however when his smile vanished he was terrifying, despite being short. If looks could kill Luca would of been dead seconds ago.

 “Mmmmm, thats what everyone is saying isn't it? And the gods gave me my second name, so have some respect and call me Luca Raspet.” The man’s beady little eyes shifted to me, looking me up and down. “And to answer your question; I’m here for him. The guardians sent me to retrieve him. Its time for his testing.”

 I looked at the Luca Raspet, knowing that he was not a force to be reckoned with, and we were on his bad side. I didn't like the idea of being alone with him. I didn't think that he could successfully overpower me, but he had the same shifty eyes as Wilder, somehow I knew he was a manipulator. What if he provoked me into attacking him, then sentenced me to some unspeakable punishment? I mean I already wanted to rip him limb from limb.

 “You say you work for the guardians, but your acting more like a messenger boy if you ask me.” My sire sneered at him,making the man’s eyes blaze. Gambit’s sneer turned into a smile and he laughed heartily at Luca Raspet’s expression of utter loathing. I was tempted to join him, but I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it. My heart was racing and my stomach was nauseous from the anxiety that had bombarded me from nowhere.

 Luca Raspet grabbed my wrist tugging me to my feet, “Gambit, I hope you can sleep well tonight knowing that I’m walking your little brat to the testing, that I have so much influence with the guardians….” I yanked my wrist from his grasp, glaring at him. I’m capable of standing up on my own, thank you very much rat-man, I thought angrily, biting my tongue to keep from saying something I would regret.

 Gambit glared, “Listen Luca Raspet, If you bring my kid into this I’ll kill you.” He hissed with a venom in his voice that would of had most men cowering in a corner, however Luca Raspet appeared unfazed.

 “I’ll do what gets me what I want.” He said smoothly with a slick smile forming on his face.

 I felt a snort escape me, and both men turned to me. As I locked eyes with Luca Raspet I felt more loathing than I could explain bubble up inside me, mixing with my anxiety creating a new feeling that I couldn't put a name to. How dare he threaten me to get at Gambit. I felt the words leaving my lips before I could stop them. “If you bring me into this, Gambit will be the least of your worries.” I hissed, the energy that overwhelmed me seeping into each word I spoke.

 Luca Raspet’s eyebrows raised as if he didn't expect me to say anything. Well there goes my attempt at remaining on his good side. He took a few steps toward me and bent over so his eyes were level with me. “And what are you going to do to me? The one with the power and influence, the one with ruthless cunning that could easily get you and your sire executed.” He said with a deadly calm in his voice, but as I looked into his eyes I knew he was furious.

 “Well. I could start with twisting your neck.” I said, trying to keep the fear from betraying me. I knew he had meant every word he had said. He would stop at nothing to destroy Gambit, and I had no idea why. Whatever was between them was deep rooted, probably going back to before I was born.

 Gambit laughed at my remark, and Luca Raspet’s jaw dropped a little as if that was the most infuriating thing he'd ever heard. I don’t think Gambit was the only one on Luca Raspet’s kill list anymore. Luca Raspet suddenly grabbed my wrist with more speed than I thought a spindly old man like him could possess. I lashed out kicking him in the groin, Gambit’s arm was around Luca Raspet’s neck before he could double over. Luca Raspet reached up and grabbed Gambit’s shoulder, bending forward and flipping him. Gambit fell on me, his immense weight crushing me.

 I heard the door open and a gasp rang out. “Luca Raspet! And Gambit- what are you doing here?! Whats going on here?!”

 “He was killing us!” Gambit yelled getting up, “I-I would have destroyed him but I couldn't bring myself to hit a servant of the guardians!”  He said dramatically putting an arm over his eyes. “How could you do this to us Luca Raspet?!”

 I sat up trying to recover from being crushed by a two hundred pound man. The woman who had walked in was clearly important. Probably another ‘next-in-line’, I’d guess. Luca Raspet was staring slack jawed at my sire as if he couldn't believe that he would lie. I honestly couldn't ether, Gambit didn't believe in lying. The womans eyes flitted to me, out of the corner of my eye I saw Gambit smile dryly at Luca Raspet and mouth, ‘Two can play at this game.’

 “Luca Raspet, the guardians sent me because you are taking too long. They are on a tight schedule, it can't be upsetted, honey. Look I have no idea what is going on here, but if you want me to forget about this you're going to have to pay me. Big time.” The woman said with a steel in her voice.

 “Alma! You can honestly believe him!” Luca Raspet yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

 “Right now I have to bring Wesley to his testing, no sense in delaying the guardians longer, but I’ll be back. Neither of you leave here while I’m gone or I’m telling.” she beckoned to me. “Come on, I’m taking you to your test.”

 I stood up glancing at my father one last time, he gave me his reassuring smile and looked away. I followed the woman, shaken from how abruptly the fight had occurred. She looked at me sympathetically as the door closed behind us and she led me down a white granite hallway. “I’m sorry you got caught in between those two’s feud. Honestly they are like little boys always trying to rip each other's throats out. It gets old. Fast.” She had long blonde hair piled into a bun and appeared to be younger than Luca Raspet, though that might only be because she had caked her face with makeup.  

 “I noticed.” I grunted, not wanting to talk to her. I had stuff I needed to think about, I needed to prepare myself for the test. I already felt like I was going to die of a heart attack- which to those who haven't experienced the feeling, is not a fun, happy feeling.  I wanted to take deep breaths to calm myself down, but I couldn't with this woman here, Gambits warning from earlier running through my head. Much to my annoyance she didn't take a hint, instead she put a hand on my shoulder kindly. I had all I could do not to slap it off. Earlier I think I told you I hated having my head rubbed, Right? Well, I should've added I hated being touched at all. I hate it with every fiber of my cold dark shriveled heart.

 “You look pale sweetheart. Are you alright? You need to sit down?” She cooed in concern, as she stopped walking entirely.

 I looked at her slack jawed, sweetheart? Did she know me? I forced myself to smile, reminding myself she was my elder and I could get in huge trouble if I was a jerk to her. “Thank you, I’m fine.” I said a bit more curtly than I had planned.

 Alma looked at me insulted and began walking again. “I was only trying to help, honey.” She said returning the curtness. We turned a corner and began walked into a elevator that shot downwards.  

 I inwardly sigh, now she was ticked. My charming personality strikes again! I had to try to fix this, I had already made Luca Raspet my enemy. “I’m sorry, Alma is it? I just get a bit short when I’m ever so slightly nervous.” We stepped out of the elevator and she began leading me down the hall again.  

 She smiled broadly, “Its ok sweetheart, every kid I’ve escorted today has practically been pooping their pants.” I raised my eyebrows at her choice of words. “But the test isn't anything to fret about. You can't fail it,” She sigh happily, “You're just displaying your talents to the gods, so they can call you by name and guide you to their path. I remember the day I was called to Maeve’s path, I was only a girl then, and now look at me, almost a guardian.” She giggled “Smile! Today is like the beginning of the rest of your life!”

 I looked at her, she appeared to me a complete airhead, but she had a point. Today was the beginning of the rest of my life but today determined what that life would be, and that was definitely a reason to be nervous. I tried to smile but my heart wasn't in it, Alma’s expression turned to concern again. “Are you ok honey? You look like you're going to drop on the ground and start having a seizure.”

 “No, actually that’s just me smiling.” I said dryly, letting my smile fall, as we turned a corner.

 “Well If thats the case, honey, you might not want to smile around little children. Or anyone with a heart condition.”  Alma said uncomfortably, stopping outside a large door.  “This is it.  Go, sweetie, the guardians are waiting.”

 I took a deep breath, preparing myself for whatever was to come. Then I shoved the heavy door open and stepped through….

The room was dark, a dim light illuminated a table where the six guardian's sat.  They all looked exhausted, huge bags were visible under their eyes, the shadows seemed to amplify them. I wondered when was the last time they had gotten sleep.

“Wesley?” The one on the end in the gold asked, looking at a paper in front of him.

“Yeah….?” I asked uncertainly, stepping forward, slowly, not wanting to trip over something in the dark. That would be a nice first impression, especially if I fell on something sharp and impaled myself. Then it would be the worst last impression. The thought struck me funny and I cracked a smile. I mean I have no idea why it struck me funny, especially since it involved me getting impaled, but it did.

“Young man, why are you smiling?” The man in blue asked, peering over his glasses.

“I’m thinking about getting impaled….” I said before my brain caught up with me, the second I did I was utterly horrified at what I had come out of my mouth. If any of the guardians had appeared tired they were wide awake now. I blushed, “Its not like that, I was- See it was a joke…. In my head…. I  would actually not like to get impaled. Not for real. That would be painful.”

They nodded exchanging glances, uncertainly. I noticed the woman in black lean over to the man in gold and whisper “He’s the one?” It was only just loud enough so that I could hear it.  The man elbowed her roughly.

“So… Wesley….” The woman in  purple started,  “We have some standard questions we ask before the test begins, Question one is what entertainment shows do you watch?”

I paused, that question was the last thing I expected. “Umm well, I don't really watch entertainment shows….”

They exchanged more concerned glances, “Are you kidding me? Every kid watches entertainment shows.”

I looked around and realized that it concerned them that I didn't watch shows like the other kids, but I couldn't bring myself to lie to protect myself. “No, I’m sorry….” I shifted feet, I looked down at my feet, I still wore the hideous white boots from the Waife Day ceremony. They felt ugly and heavy on my feet, I longed for my normal shoes.

“Why then do you not like them?” the woman asked, curiously.

“Well…. I just….. They bore me. I mean the plot is generally almost the same, only one point of view is ever stated, the characters don’t even seem real…. They are so shallow….” I said cautiously looking at her. She looked at me displeased, the man in the red even seemed insulted.

“Those characters are adults, the fully formed human beings. You will be one eventually, you must still be in an immature state of mind! And those plots are carefully thought out adventures you will be dealing with in your life after you graduate!” The man in the red snapped angrily, standing up abruptly. I swallowed hard, scared.

“Silence, Blaze Hugo Thaddius!” The woman in the purple roared, giving me the impression that she was in charge. The man sat down miffed. She locked eyes with me, “Forgive Blaze Hugo Thaddius, before he rose in ranks he acted in a great deal of those shows. Don’t fret about not being fully formed, the next stage of your training will take care of that.” she smiled curtly and sat back down. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a fully formed human being, not if it meant being shallow and stupid, I kept quiet though.

“There is no next stage of training if he becomes a Finian.” The man in green on the end of the table spoke up. I hadn't noticed him before, but now that  I had it was like I couldn't stop looking at him. He had the saddest green eyes, that matched his droopy green robes. His red hair was streaked with grey, though his eyebrows were a dark brown, almost black. He had to be the head of the Finian branch.

“Silence Fisk. We need to keep on schedule.” The woman in purple said harshly. I thought it was odd that he only had one name, while the others at the table all had at least three, and they all looked at him like he was garbage…. I felt a little bad for him, but I saw this as all the more reason I had to hide my disorder and make it into one of the other paths. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I felt sick as another wave of adrenaline rushed through my body.  

“Wesley what games do you like to play? On your Zagger or Pad or whatever device you have.” She asked with a wave of her hand, clearly she had been through this at least 50 times today, probably more.

Again I was uncomfortable, I involuntarily glanced toward the door, but couldn't see it through the dark. “I had a Pad a few years ago, but my roommate sat on it and I never bothered to replace it.” It was true, I had left it innocently left it on my bed and Aspen came along and brutally sat on it. I had always found the games on it like running around in a circle, no matter how many levels you passed their was always another one waiting for you. I got frustrated with them easily and didn't have the patience to play them. If Aspen had not sat on it I probably ended up breaking it myself.  

“Oh… Well If you dislike computers and hate shows what do you do to entertain yourself?” The man in blue looked over his glasses curiously, looking up from the papers he was thumbing through.

“I listen to music with my earbuds, I sleep, I eat…. I workout, I love working out- especially crunches. Crunches are my favorite.” I said, feeling relieved that they didn't press the subject of games. I thought a moment, “I like drawing too, I do use the computer for that.”

The woman in purple took a few notes, then looked up. “Well then I think that about sums up our pre-test.” The woman in purple said flicking switch, and a light illuminated a door on the far side of the room. “Good luck.” She gestured for me to go through it.

I didn't want to go through it. “Whats the purpose of the pre-test?” I asked, half stalling and half curious.

They all gave me an exasperated look, but the woman in purple answered me. “Just to see how far along you are to being fully formed-  and you, Wesly, are a very long way from it.”

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And the plot thickens. Thank you to everyone whos reading this, it means the world to me! Anyway if you liked it, vote and comment!