"Even the most beautiful of the stars are taken for granted night after night."
~ Veronika Jensen

As I made my way to the elevators, I heard a guy ask, "Hey sweetheart, everything okay?"

I whirled around, offering a smile. "Yeah, just got some bad news is all."

"Would you like me to escort you up to your room?"

Something about his gaze made me uncomfortable. My conscience screamed at me to get away because he was bad news. With this in mind, I politely declined his offer, but that didn't go over well. As I continued my walk to the elevator, he became progressively more insistent. Finally, he grabbed my arm. I yanked it out of his grip, and my sadness transformed to fury.

"Don't you dare touch me," I snarled.

His face scrunched up as he violently grabbed me by arms and demanded, "What's wrong? You should've used your powers. Where're your powers?"

I struggled against his grip as I told him bitterly, "Haven't you heard? I don't have any."

"No, no, we were told the Chosen has arrived. Why aren't you using your powers?" He roared. Realizing this situation was worse than I thought, I did what I do best.

I kicked out, and I kicked hard, nailing him in the groin

The guy grunted in pain, and his hold slackened enough that I could break free. The elevators weren't an option anymore, so I had to figure out a new tactic. I bolted back towards the party, but I found to my dismay he was rapidly gaining on me when I glanced over my shoulder.

There was no way I could outrun him. I needed to go somewhere else and let people know I was in trouble. Caleb's lab was close, and I'd be more likely to make it there in time than the ballroom.

I risked the chance.

Putting on a burst of speed, I nearly reached the lab when something wrapped around my ankle. I went down hard and had just rolled over when suddenly the guy was on top of me.

"Show me your powers," he ordered.

"Get off of me!" I yelled, throwing my fist at his face. It hit him square in the jaw but had no effect on him. He simply slammed my arms above my head. I had no idea how I was going to get out of this, especially without powers. I racked my brain for all the training I'd gone through, but I hadn't quite reached the stage where they taught you how to get out from underneath someone. I'd have to improvise, but with my legs and arms pinned down, no powers, and no weapons, I couldn't think of anything else to do but squirm until I got a limb free.

"Stop struggling," he snapped, hands clamping down on my throat. I gasped for air as he slowly strangled me. I tugged futilely to try and free my neck, but it was hopeless. My vision was going black, and in one last desperate attempt to free myself, I pushed my hands upwards at his shoulders.

An invisible force blasted him backward. Air rushed back into my lungs, momentarily filling me with a sense of euphoria as I could breathe again. However, in the back of my mind, I knew the danger was far from over. I forced myself up, placed my eyes in front of the scanner for Caleb's lab, and waited for the AI system to allow me entry.

"Welcome, Lilly Snow," the voice said, opening the door. I stumbled in, searching for a way to contact security or Caleb or anyone for that matter.

"Where'd you go?" the guy called out.

How had he gotten in?!

I immediately crouched and slipped around the corner, crawling under a table. It was a solid baseboard on three sides, so it'd only be a problem if he down this aisle.

A chill settled in the air, and I couldn't tell if my shivering was from fear or the cold. I sat with my back against the cupboard, my breath a stark white against the blackness of it. Suddenly, it dawned on me that if I could see my breath, there was a possibility my attacker could. I clamped a hand over my mouth.

Footsteps approached from my right. My heart raced so wildly I thought it was going to beat out of my chest.

"You really think hiding there is going to stop me from seeing you?" the guy remarked, amused. I kicked out at his legs, but he jumped back before I hit him. I took the opportunity to scramble away from my terrible hiding place. I barely made it three feet before a bullet whizzed past my ear. I dropped to the ground out of reflex.

"I wouldn't run if I were you. It's a coward's death, you know," he said. "Turn around, sweetling."

I did what he said, finding an alien gun pointed at me. I gulped down my fear. I wouldn't die with terror on my face. "My name is not sweetling. It's Lilly Snow."

"So feisty for someone about to die. Stand up."

I did.

"You were hard to kill for a person who doesn't have powers," he said. "I commend you for that. But we can't have both heroes of the prophecy alive because that's bad news for us. Since you're the one without powers, you're easier to kill. Goodbye."

He pulled the trigger.

Caleb

I felt terrible that Lily didn't have a partner for the first dance, so when the song finished, I went searching for her. I knew she'd gone to the bathroom, but I started worrying because she'd been gone for a while. When the ten-minute mark hit, I was low-key panicking, something Dylan picked up on.

"What's up, man?" he inquired, stuffing his face full of some miniature desserts. I couldn't figure out how he could still eat so much after everything.

"I'm trying to find Lilly," I said.

"She isn't back yet? I saw her like... ten minutes ago when I went to the bathroom," he responded, voice muffled by his stuffed cheeks.

"Where was she headed?"

"I thought back here. She didn't say otherwise. Maybe she needed something from her room."

"I don't know. I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

My phone's alarm sounded, and dread filled my bones. It was the signal that said something was very, very wrong in my lab. I hurriedly pulled it out of my pocket and pulled up my security cameras. My blood ran cold at the sight of Lilly being held at gunpoint.

I bolted.

Dylan shouted after me before following. Our hasty departure caught the attention of the party-goers. Chad fell into step with Dylan along with some armed guards.

I skidded to a stop in front of my lab to find the door wedged open by a device resembling a bomb.

"What's that?" Dylan asked, standing beside me.

"Someone go get Mallory. She'll need to diffuse the bomb before we can go in," I said. One of the guards ran off. Within a minute, he returned with the Electrokinesis girl beside him.

"That's a Malkan bomb," she observed. "That's going to be more difficult."

"Can you do it?" I asked.

"I can do it, but how quickly do you need to get in there?"

"As soon as possible. Lilly is being held at gunpoint

"What?!" Chad and Dylan demanded simultaneously. As if on cue, gunfire sounded from within my lab. I shouted for Lilly, desperate to hear her voice. Dylan lost most of the color in his face; Chad looked livid. The severity of the situation seemed to motivate Mallory to get the bomb diffused as quickly as possible. While she did that, I hurriedly explained how I knew what was going on.

"Got it!" Mallory exclaimed victoriously, yanking the device out of the doorway. The doors slammed shut, and I hastily let my AI conduct a facial scan, then giving it permission to allow everyone in.

I entered first and promptly slipped, falling straight on to my back. Dylan, Chad, and the guards followed in suit.

"What the hell?" Chad groaned. We sat up, shocked to find the floor covered in a thin sheet of black ice. I could see my breath in front of me too. Why was my lab so cold?

I chose to figure it out later; I had more pressing matters at hand.

Treading carefully, I went as fast as I could around the corner to find a terrifying sight before me: Lilly cornered in the back of my lab with a gun pointed at her head again.

The bad guy fired.

I vaguely heard myself shout her name through the pounding of the blood in my ears. My terror quickly dissolved into disbelief when I saw a block of ice directly in front of her, the bullet meant to kill her frozen inside.

A black tendril shot out from Chad's hand, wrapping itself around the guy's neck, lifting him up and slamming him into the ceiling with so much force it left an indentation. The weapon fell out of his hands. Chad proceeded to slam the guy down into the concrete ground below, effectively knocking him out. I skated over to Lilly, ignoring the possibility there could be more people like him around. All I cared about was getting to Lilly. She was frozen in place, her hands and arms blocking her face.

"Lilly?" I said gently. "It's Caleb. Hey, you're safe now."

Carefully, I took her hands in mine, lowering them. She was shaking, but strangely enough, her body wasn't cold despite the freezing temperatures. My touch seemed to jar her into her senses as her terror-filled eyes met my worried ones. I brushed a piece of hair out of her face and said, "You're safe now. We're here. Are you hurt?"

Lilly shook her head.

"Are you cold?"

"N-no," she stammered.

"What happened?"

"H-he attacked me after I... after I left the bathroom."

"Caleb," Chad said in a tone that insinuated not listening was not an option. Trying to hide my annoyance, I glanced over my shoulder to see what he wanted. He pointed at massive ice blocks all around my lab, seven of them, not including the one Lilly and I were currently behind. I furrowed my brows in confusion before the revelation slowly dawned on me of what had happened and why Lilly was still alive after being shot at eight times.

In my haze of horror at seeing her be shot at point-blank, I failed to realize where the eruption of ice originated. Now it all made sense.

Lilly must've seen the change in expression on my face because she asked, "What? What is it?"

I faced her, my lips spreading into a proud smile. "I believe you've just gotten your powers."