Read The Seven for Free Online Page B

entered his room, Kenny slowly backed into the far corner like a trapped rat.
    Holly shut the door and looked around at all of their faces. "We need to keep our powers secret, agreed?"
    There was a chorus of nodding heads. Kenny stood staring as if they were going to gang up and beat him down. His arms were up in a semi-defensive posture.
    Holly sighed. "Oh for the love of macaroni, Ken. What is wrong with you? We've known each other for ten years and you still act like we're strangers. Just answer like a human being for once: Will you keep your powers secret if they manifest themselves?"
    Kenny nodded. He cleared his throat. "Yes, I will." His voice sounded hollow and strange. Holly watched a red flush creep up the back of his neck.
    "Good. I shudder to think about what is happening to Posey right now," said Holly.
    "Maybe we should go help her?" suggested John.
    "What?" Sarah yelped. Holly knew what she was thinking. Going into the labs without one of the doctors meant big-time trouble, and going in with the idea of getting one of them out of testing! Holly could not even begin conceive of the punishments. Once, when she was eleven, Holly and Posey had wandered into one of the classrooms without permission and rifled through the papers in the cabinets. When they were caught, they had been sentenced to a month of solitary confinement in their respective bedrooms. No music, no movies, no communicating with any of the others. That had been harsh enough. An unaccompanied foray into the labs was insanity. Who knew what Cormair would do to them?
    "Seriously! Indigo says I'm a weapon, right?" said John. "Well, maybe it's time I figure out exactly what kind of a weapon I can be. I'll just sneak down there and bust her out. Bring her back to her room."
    "What if she's really sick?" asked Sarah. "What if this...reaction...she had tonight was because the testing and stuff is going wrong?"
"Maybe it is," said Indigo. "I don't have any side effects. Neither does Holly or John."
"So what if breaking Posey out of the labs might kill her?" said Holly. "We can't let that happen, either."
"What should we do then?" asked Andy.
    "We go down as a group and offer moral support. We be there for her and let her know we don't think she's a freak," said Holly. "Posey would be there for us. She's like that. You all know it. She's the only one of us who makes out birthday cards for everyone. She likes being in this place, I think. She still remembers all of our last names."
"Our last names?" John said. "I don't even remember my own last name."
"Redmond," said Holly. "Posey knew it. We talked about it today. She remembers all that stuff."
"Jeez," said John.
    "Holly's right. We have to go to her," said Sarah. "Remember when John was down there getting those horrible tests? Remember how helpless we felt up here? I'm not going to leave Posey alone down there. I think we need to break her out."
"What will we do if we do that?" Andy asked. "That's a major violation. We'll all be punished severely."
"Screw that," hissed Indigo. "I am sick to death of them treating me like an object."
A slow smile crawled over John's face. "I've got an idea. You know how we all said we were going to leave here some day?"
Sarah looked horrified. "We said some day! Not...today!"
"Why not today?" said John. "Good a day as any. What makes today different from next week or next month?"
    "What about our...abilities?" Sarah's voice wavered. "Andy and Kenny and I haven't changed yet. What if things happen to us like they happened to Posey? What if we need help? I thought that Doctor Cormair was going to help us learn to use our powers and such."
"I didn't need any help," said Holly. "I just kind of did it."
"Look at me! That punch!" said John. "I don't know that we'll need a lot of training. I think it'll just come naturally."
"What if it doesn't?"
    "Sarah, c'mon!" Indigo sighed, throwing up her hands. "This is a chance! We've been going through the wringer here for a decade, just