The next few days passed in a blur. Katrina vaguely remembered Wyne lifting her up and taking her back to the furniture store. She was tucked into bed and taken care of.

She remembered being spoon fed some fish soup, which meant they had gone to the ocean. She remembered being in a haze and her mind being blurry, unable to think properly.

Katrina's illusions went out of control. One day, they caused the sun to disappear for hours. The next, they made Katrina think she was a nine-year-old again, being tortured by Derrick.

Katrina worked up enough energy to get out of bed one night, when everyone else was asleep. She could hear someone walking nearby, probably whoever was taking watch that night. Katrina walked towards the sound of the footsteps, her legs weak from disuse.

"Katrina?" Wyne whispered. "You're awake!"

Wyne joyfully bounded over to her and engulfed her in a tight hug, crying tears of joy.

"We thought we had lost you," Wyne said. "It's happened before; someone going crazy after being tortured with pain."

"How long has it been?" Katrina croaked.

"A week," he replied. "You were unresponsive for a week."

"Dean told us what he saw in your mind. I can't believe how Derrick tortured you, and all those other poor girls. And your parents! I didn't know you were an orphan. I swear, if I see him again, I'll rip his limbs off one by one," Wyne growled, his arms shaking with anger.

"And when you offered him a truce and didn't kill him... I admire you for that," he finished softly.

"What happened to him? Derrick, I mean," Katrina asked.

"He ran away while we were all tending to you. We don't know where he is, or whether he's still alive. I hope he died a slow, painful, death," he replied darkly.

"None of you guys got hurt during our fight?" Katrina asked.

Wyne shook his head. "We're all safe, thanks to those boxes you made. You should've let us help though."

"No," she replied flatly. "It was my battle to fight, not yours or anyone else's."

"I respect that," Wyne said. "Also, I have some news for you," he said, brightening. "Do you want the good news first or the great news?"

"I'll take the good news," Katrina replied.

"We found the others!" Wyne exclaimed. "You were right, they were all at the beach. They've already built a little village and everything."

"Really? That's amazing!" Katrina grinned. "How many were there?"

"Only thirty-two of them. The rest died in the flood or from the coyotes."

Katrina quickly did the math. Less than two weeks into the Experiment, only thirty-six of them were left, thirty-seven assuming Derrick was alive. That meant at least twenty-seven of them had died.

"Is everyone here?" Katrina asked.

Wyne shook his head. "They're all still at the beach, except for Celia. They decided to have us and Celia stay here, in the city, so that we can explore. Another group of five is also going to explore the forest."

"Celia?" Katrina asked.

"Yeah, Celia Wang. She's from LA and has precognition for danger."

"So, she basically knows whenever danger is coming? That's useful," Katrina said.

"Yeah, you can meet her when she wakes up. Oh, do you want to hear the great news?"

"Sure," Katrina replied eagerly.

"There's another healer who healed Blythe! His name is Edward, well, we call him Ted-"

"Wait, Ted Benson?" Katrina exclaimed.

"You know him?" Wyne asked.

"Yeah. We've been friends for who knows how long. According to our parents, we've been practically inseparable since we first met each other, when I was four and he was five. I haven't seen him since he turned thirteen, though," Katrina explained. "He's the best healer I know. I've seen him bring people back from the dead."

"He really is amazing," Wyne admitted. "He healed Blythe when we all thought she was going to die."

"Where is he?" Katrina asked. "I want to see him."

"He's at the beach with everyone else. I'll take you in the morning. Speaking of that, you should probably get back to sleep. It'll be another couple of hours until sunrise, and you need the rest."

"No way," Katrina replied. "I've been sleeping almost 24/7 for the past week and I'm not even tired. You go sleep; I'll take watch."

"No, I insist," Wyne argued.

"I insist," Katrina countered, refusing to be put back in bed.

In the end, they agreed to both stay awake. They chatted for the rest of the night. Katrina found out that Wyne had an older sister named Mina. Mina was nineteen and wasn't a Deviant, so she was studying to be a nurse at Harvard.

Katrina, in turn, found herself telling Wyne about her childhood. It wasn't particularly a happy one, but she told him about hers and Ted's friendship along with how they helped each other develop their abilities.

"Katrina!" they heard someone squeal behind them, interrupting their thoughts. Blythe launched herself into Katrina's arms, laughing in delight.

"Why didn't you tell me she woke up?" Blythe accused Wyne.

"Nice to see you awake," Dean said, walking in. "Did Wyne tell you about the others?"

Katrina nodded. "He filled me in on everything."

"Celia, meet Katrina. Katrina, meet Celia," Dean said, waving his arms at a Chinese girl her age.

Katrina found herself liking Celia immediately. She was wearing a jean skirt and a yellow t-shirt sporting paint stains, along with a maroon French beret on top of her black hair. A round pair of glasses rested on her nose.

Katrina could imagine Celia holding a paintbrush and a painting pallet, standing in front of a canvas and drawing to her heart's desire.

"Nice to meet you," Katrina said, standing up to shake Celia's outstretched hand.

"Right back at you," she replied cheerfully, in a slight Chinese accent.

"How does your precognition work?" Katrina asked curiously.

"Whenever I'm in danger, I kind of get this gut feeling to do something. Like for example, if there was a sinkhole I was about to walk into, I get this gut feeling to walk to the side instead. It's quite useful," she replied. "It's a pity that it only happens when I'm in danger, though, and it doesn't tell me what danger is going to happen."

"How did you get caught then?" Katrina asked. The others around them perked up their ears, obviously looking forwards to Celia's answer.

"The police set up a trap that I couldn't escape from or avoid, no matter what. My precognition made me walk straight into the it," she replied glumly.

"Your power is still super cool though," Katrina said.

"Not as cool as yours. I saw when your power made the entire sun go out," Celia admired.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she replied, embarrassed.

Celia waved a hand. "It's fine. It made everyone freak out, which was kinda funny to watch."

"Speaking of the others..." Katrina turned to Wyne, looking at him expectantly. Wyne held out his hand for her to take so that he could teleport her to the beach.

"Wait, where are you going?" Dean asked.

"I'm taking her to see Ted. They were childhood friends, did you know that?"

"Cool," Dean said. "Try to be back within half an hour."

Katrina grabbed Wyne's hand after Dean gave his permission. They teleported to the outskirts of the village and entered the village.

Katrina admired the little huts they had made out of driftwood and hay, probably scavenged from the ruins of the farm. There were also a few farm animals, tied to fences while pens were being built. A couple of people waved to Wyne as they searched for Ted.

"Do you see him?" Wyne asked, squinting in the bright sun.

Katrina was about to shake her head when she saw a familiar crop of dirty blond hair.

"Ted!" she yelled. Ted turned around, his face morphing into one of surprise.

"Kat!" he shouted, running to meet her. They hugged.

"I thought you were here when I saw the sky darken," he said, watching Katrina blush. It seemed like everyone knew about her sky darkening trick.

"How have you been?" he asked, holding her out, inspecting her for injuries.

Katrina's face fell when she remembered about Derrick. She told him in a low voice about how he had attacked her and ran away.

Ted snarled. "I can't believe that that devil is here! I bet he ran away to the forest. When I get my hands on him..."

"Remember our deal to let me take revenge on him," Katrina reminded him. Ted nodded.

"Katrina, we should probably get back now, otherwise Dean is going to start freaking out and yelling at us," Wyne said behind them.

"Yeah," Katrina said, looking at the sun and realizing that they have been talking for about an hour now. "See you later, Ted."

"See ya, Kat."

Katrina walked back to Wyne and they teleported back. Sure enough, Dean stalked towards them, hands folded across his chest.

"We haven't been gone for that long," Katrina protested.

"You've been gone for about an hour!" Dean yelled. "Do you know how much I was worrying? You two are officially grounded for the rest of the week."

"You're not our dad," Katrina complained. "Besides, you owe me. If I hadn't gone to try to save you that day when the police were fingerprinting everyone, I probably never would have been caught."

"You two knew each other outside of the Experiment?" Wyne said, surprised.

They nodded. Katrina explained how they met and how she had tried to save Dean.

"You're still grounded," Dean said.

"Like you can stop us," Wyne replied. "I can teleport off and Katrina can do that box thing she did last time."

"Fine," Dean groaned. "But if you guys make me worry that much again-"

"Yeah, we know," Katrina said, already walking away, "You'll ground us if we make you freak out again."

...

"Gross," Celia complained, looking at the pile of rotting bodies and holding her nose.

Katrina agreed. She and Celia had been given the task of clearing out the bodies of the dead coyotes and the seven people who had died.

"Would you rather I transform them into something more likable?" Katrina asked.

"Yes, please!" Celia replied, eager to see Katrina's power in work.

Katrina transformed the bodies into large, bulky pillows, which would match the size and weight of the bodies perfectly.

"Ah, this smells much better," Celia declared.

Katrina was jealous of Celia. As Katrina didn't believe in the illusion, she didn't have the added benefit of smelling the illusion of the perfume she had placed next to the pillows.

The two worked together to pull the bodies out of the mall and to a nearby park, where Wyne, Dean, and Blythe were digging graves.

They unceremoniously dumped each of the bodies into its separate graves before piling the dirt back on top of them. By noon, all of the bodies had been disposed of.

"Good work, everyone," Dean said, wiping his brows.

"Any updates on the group exploring the forest?" Katrina asked, brushing the dirt off her pants.

"Besides the fact that they know it's a temperate forest and that animals live there? No," Dean replied.

Katrina sighed. She was hoping for news of Derrick, and judging by the looks on Celia's, Wyne's, and Blythe's faces, so were they.

Derrick hadn't been seen for more than two weeks now, but the forest group have found abandoned camp sites and fresh footprints, proving that Derrick was alive.

"Um, guys? Is it just me, or is the sky darkening?" Celia asked nervously. Katrina glanced up. Sure enough, despite the fact that it was noon, the sun was almost hidden by a layer of smoke.

"Is this one of your illusions?" Wyne asked. Katrina shook her head.

"It's coming from one of the mountains by the forest," she observed, squinting. "Could it be a volcanic eruption?"

"I hate to say this," Celia replied worriedly, "but probably. I'm getting some serious danger vibes right now."

The ground started shaking, making everyone stumble and the buildings shake. Katrina held onto Wyne to keep her balance.

"We need to get out of here!" Celia yelled over the noise. "The buildings are shaking! My ability says we have to get out of here now!"

Wyne nodded and grabbed everyone, exerting all his energy to teleport all of them away to the village at once. When they got there, Wyne stumbled and threw up, obviously exhausted. Katrina patted his back until he got all the food out of his system. Everyone else ran to the village, warning them of the oncoming eruption.

"Katrina?" Ted shouted, sprinting towards them. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, but I think it's a volcanic eruption," she answered. "We need to get out of here!" She turned to Wyne.

"Wyne, are you able to teleport everyone in the village to the farm?" she asked. Wyne looked weak and unable to move, much less teleport, but he was their only chance at survival. At that moment, Wyne decided to pass out, sagging into her arms.

Katrina let out a string of curses as she glanced towards the volcano. It was already spewing lava that destroyed most of the forest and half of the city, including the mall where they were. Wyne couldn't have chosen a worse time to pass out.

Katrina started coughing from the smoke. This was an unnatural volcano; it was much stronger and more powerful than any other volcanic eruption Katrina had ever heard of. There was also an evident lack of ash and the lava was spewing too fast and far for them to run away from. Suddenly, a plan popped into her head.

"Are there any boats?" Katrina yelled at Ted. He nodded.

"We don't have enough to fit everyone though," he replied, running over to help Katrina with Wyne.

Relieved of Wyne's dead weight, Katrina straightened and created an illusion of a message in the sky.

"GO TO THE DOCK," it read.

"I know that look on your face," Ted gasped as they carried Wyne to the dock. "You have an idea." It wasn't a question.

"We'll fit everyone who can't swim onto the boat, and for those who can, we'll give them some driftwood to hold on to," she replied.

When the three arrived at the dock, it was full of fearful people.

"Everyone, split into two groups," Dean shouted over the noise once Ted told him the plan. "The people who can swim, go to my left, and the people who can't, go to my right."

When everyone hesitated, remembering how many people died the last time Dean ordered them around Celia shouted, "Listen to him! My ability says it'll work!"

Thankfully, everyone started splitting up into two groups after Celia gave her approval. Almost everyone was capable of swimming, leaving only five who couldn't. Dean instructed those five to climb into one of the boats, along with a few others who weren't as adept at swimming.

Ted rolled out a couple of logs and some paddles, which everyone else, including Katrina, Celia, and Ted, held onto. Dean and Blythe sat in the boats, along with the unconscious body of Wyne.

"Wait!" Katrina called out. She took a pile of rope she found on the dock and tied all the boats, paddles, and driftwood together so that none of them would float off by themselves.

"Good idea," Ted said, helping her.

When they were done, they pushed everyone out to sea, where they were at the mercy of the current. Salty seawater kept spraying into Katrina's face, where it stung her eyes and left her gasping for breath.

The farther they went out, the stronger the currents were. Katrina was holding onto a small branch along with Ted and both of them struggled to keep their grip.

The waves kept pulling them under, forcing them to hold their breaths for long periods of time. When the current did allow them to take a much-needed breath, it was only for a second, taunting them with the feel of the wind on their faces.

Each wave was stronger than the last. One of Katrina's hand slipped, then the other. She was pulled under the sea, floating down, deeper and deeper.

"Kat!" Ted yelled, his voice lost to the wind. Katrina could barely hear him; the water muffled the sound. The sun was a small light above her, growing fainter with each passing second.

Katrina's lungs screamed, needing air. She let out her breath, letting seawater fill her lungs. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a hand closing on her wrist.

...

Are books better than movies?