It's unsettling to see a strange staring at you from afar in public. What's worse is the same person staring at you from your front porch when you arrive home.

I must backtrack a bit for you to understand: Harper and I had been on a walk in the cool spring air, the breeze blowing through her hair as we discussed the test results given to us that morning. Her father had returned two days after the package arrived. He consented, and the next day she went in to be tested on what skill level she was at.

They read as follows:
Harper Wilson
Subject
Gravitokinesis
Level: 4/10
Mastered skills: 0/20
Current skills: ↴
Gravity Generation ⋅ 6/20
Increase gravity ⋅ 12/20
Weight Manipulation ⋅ 14/20
Reduce/Remove gravity ⋅ 14/20
Flight Manipulation ⋅ 12/20
Levitation/Flight ⋅ 14/20
Simulate superhuman strength and agility ⋅ 10/20
Floor Tilting ⋅ 7/20
Gravitation Adaptation ⋅ 8/20
Telekinesis-like effects ⋅ 16/20
Attract or Repel objects ⋅ 15/20
Force-Field Generation ⋅ 6/20

Harper was home-schooled and was accordingly tired of being confined to her room all day, so we had agreed to walk to the park and go over the results together.

While there, a well-dressed gentlemen walking down the sidewalk had paused suddenly upon seeing us. He stood there and stared for a full five minutes before going slowly on his way, discreetly pulling out a cellphone as he did so. Obviously he wasn't discreet enough for me not to notice, but the fact that he tried had me on high suspicion.

Nothing further happened out of the ordinary until we arrived back at her home, where the same man was staring at us from her porch.

"Should I call security?" Harper whispered, gripping my arm.

"I don't know if..." I looked down at her hand holding onto me; her knuckles white with the force she was using. Harper didn't scare easily, and the fact that she was worried, worried me.

"If what?" She searched my face, looking for an answer.

I took a deep breath and stared into her expressive eyes. She was always the decision maker, leading the both of us; often into trouble that she was also excellent at avoiding. But this time, she was depending on me, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to handle the situation until I saw her fear. Real men protect the women in their lives, and I didn't intend to cower behind her this time. This time I would lead.

"Excuse me sir, can we help you?" I stepped in front of Harper, shielding her from view as much as possible. Great start Blu, I mentally smacked myself as the stranger raised an eyebrow.

"You can, actually," he stepped forwards, pulling out a very official looking badge. "My name is Cleveland Wright, and I'm with the United States secret government program designed to help people like you."

Great, here we go, I thought, trying to refrain from shaking my head. It was always the badge that had people hooked, following what looked real. Of course, it always turned out to be trouble, and I knew Harper was thinking the same thing, because she gave a small frown and shook her head slightly in my direction.

If top secret organizations -good or bad- found out that one of them already had anything unusual, it was always a race to capture it first. Of course, Harper was not an 'it', and I wasn't planning on giving her up without a fight.

"We're not interested," I said firmly. "Harper has already been contacted and accepted by another program." Way to spill all your life secrets Blu, I mentally smacked myself again as Mr. Wright's face conveyed an immediately heightened interest.

"Which organization?" he asked harshly.

I subconsciously felt Harper's grip tighten and turned slightly to see her fingers dialing for security. "Advanced Ability Academy," I replied slowly, trying to stall. If I can just get him to stay long enough until help arrives...

"What?" a worried crease on his brow replaces an interested look. "You accepted?"

"Why shouldn't we have?" Harper spoke for the first time, her voice calm and quiet. "We have no reason to distrust them." Score one for us.

"Well I do," Mr. Wright scowled, his grip tightening on the briefcase in his left hand. "Believe me, you do not want to get mixed up in their affairs."

"Well why should we believe you instead of them?" Harper challenged, her green eyes flashing. For a fleeting second I feel some pity for him, knowing that Harper never gives up in an argument, and she's excellent at comebacks. Score two for us.

"Look," he shook his head and stared us both in the eyes. "I'm just trying to help you. If you knew what was best for you, you'd stay away from them. Now let's not do this the hard way."

He turned as the heavy footsteps of the guards approached, and suddenly sprayed a liquid into our eyes. We coughed, losing our balance, and fell to the ground as time slowed.

• ⑊ •

I never thought I'd be kidnapped. Of course, your parents warn you about it all the time, but don't we all agree none of us ever thought we'd really be genuinely in a kidnap situation like the movies?

Well even if you didn't, I sure did, so when I opened my eyes and found myself bound and gagged, I was panicking. In fact, I was so self-centered that it took me a few minutes of ceaseless struggling to realize that Harper was right beside me in a straightjacket.

When I finally turned, her tired eyes were staring into mine. There were signs of much struggle in the lines of her face, but even then she was smiling.

"Glad to see you awake, Sleeping Bluty," she said archly; her voice weak and quiet.

"Nice pun," I leaned back against the cold stone wall and began to scan my surroundings. The cell was small, with a heavily barred door and a small barred window way out of reach. My brain began to work a way out. Maybe I could...

"Don't," Harper said suddenly, as if reading my thoughts. I wouldn't put it past her if she was. "I already tried Blu. Everything."

"Everything?" I pulled closer to her, until our foreheads touched. The heavy chains on my hands and feet strained against my bare skin. "We won't give up Harpsichord."

"Only you call me that," she stared into my eyes happily, making my heart jump. "I like it."

A rattle at the door made us both jump, knocking our heads together painfully. A hefty looking guard stepped in with an infuriating smirk on his face. "Alright you two lovebirds, knock it off. You're coming with me."

Harper glared at him, the edges of her cheeks tinged pink. I can feel the heat on my face and know it is already red...but why is she embarrassed? She can't think of me as more than a friend, we've never been. To think we could be more was a foolish thought on my part.

The guard began roughly undoing our chains, glaring at Harper as he did so. "I'm going to take that thing off, but you have to promise not to use your abilities at all, or this goes 'straight' back on." He laughed dryly at his own joke and ripped the straightjacket off of her.

Harper sighed in relief, shaking her arms and legs out to renew the feeling in them. "I promise."

"You're going to come with me to see Mr.Wright," the guard continued. I had noticed his name tag read Jeff in scrawling handwriting. "You'll see how he deals with those that defy him."

I instinctively took a step towards Harper and she gave me a small smile, her hand finding mine. At least we were in this together.

We followed Jeff hand in hand through a maze of corridors, and my brain was working overtime trying to memorize the turns we had taken. His steel-toe boots made hard sounds on the cement floor, probably contributing to his 'tough guy' image.

"Here we are," he gestured to another huge door, one that swung open with enough force to knock down a man.

But instead of revealing a cold cell, the inside of this room was heavily furnished and lit up; the mark of power. Mr. Wright was seated behind a ornate wooden desk in a black rolling chair.

"Ahhhh," he drew out the syllable to the point where it became annoying. "Here they are."

I could tell that Harper was trying hard to restrain an eye roll or some other sarcastic gesture by how tightly she was gripping my hand. I squeezed her hand back as a sort of reassurance that I was still there and repeated the phrase in my head that was my only comfort. We're in this together.

"I see you've found out what happens when you don't take my advice," he drawled, his gaze flicking lazily to us.

You call that advice? I want to scream. I guess some of Harper's fire must be rubbing off on me.

"That's some pretty forceful 'advice' there pal," Harper said nonchalantly, but I could see the anger in her eyes. Yep, I was right.

"You will address me as Mr. Cleveland, or Mr. Wright," he replied tightly, cleaning his throat. "Nothing else."

Harper's mouth began to form another reply, but I squeezed her hand again, this time in warning. Not yet.

"Thank you Jeff," his mouth curves into a smile I didn't want to see. "I've seen enough. Take them away for test 1. "

A/N:
Okay get ready this'll be a trip:
Soooo I got sick Wednesday and all day Thursday I was awfully sick with chills, fever, headache, the whole business. Every day Monday-Thursday I write a certain portion of the chapter, but I couldn't write the portion Thursday so this chapter is a day late. Anyway hope you enjoy it!

Next Update: April 27