Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice!

Chapter 13

After class was over, we waited for all the students to leave, and we went over to talk to baby. 

"So, what is this situation going on? Why are you our new substitute teacher? I read the note that said you wanted to stick closer in case something happened, but I need a little more context." 

"Well, as you know, Micah's guardian is no longer around. That being said, headquarters would want me to supervise all of you. They didn't appreciate sealing a demon within a way maker. That being said, we will find a way to work around this." "I'll start by being your substitute teacher and keeping a better eye on all of you. From here on out, I'll be training the three of you." "I thought it would be difficult enough to train two-way makers, " Beck added."

"It will be interesting to see the first team of way-makers that I know of. Who knows, maybe this will change how we handle things, and we won't lose as many lives." 

I could see Micah pause at the thought. "What do you mean by lives lost?" she asked worriedly. 

"You don't need to worry about it. That conversation is for another day and time." "In the meantime, please go to these coordinates after school. There's an address on this slip. I want all three of you to meet up there." 

"Where is this located? Can you give us an idea?" Beck asked Baby.

"No, I'm letting that be a surprise and test, so to speak. I can give you more information once all of you get there." 

After school, we went to the address we were given. The path to get there could have been clearer. Getting to the outskirts of town was tricky, and it led through some wooded areas. 

There seemed to be only one building built inside a mountain—there were no other buildings around. Even this place looked like an abandoned shrine, and we all chose to explore it. Upon walking into the dilapidated shrine, the inside architecture looked like an old Catholic Church. 

The windows are both Japanese architecture and stained glass. On the inside, down the middle towards the front, was an altar with a man who looked like Christ. 

This one differed slightly from what I had seen in movies and magazines. The marble sculpture depicted him with short wavy hair, a small muscular body, and his hands reaching out as if offering a hug. He wore a holy tunic and stood there with bare feet.

At the bottom of the statue engraved the words, "Love thy God with all thy heart, thy mind, and thy soul." 

I've heard about this verse before. It speaks about keeping a connection with your creator and sharing a bond and relationship with him. I believe it was also one of the Ten Commandments. I can't understand why we were here in this unique church-like shrine or what we were to accomplish. 

When Baby was nowhere to be found, we started getting curious, walking around and seeing if there were any other entrances. These were the coordinates that Baby had given us to go to, after all. 

"Hey, Kaysi," Micah spoke up, trying to break my train of thought, as she could see I was overthinking. "I've never seen a place like this before, but since it's in such a secret location, do you think there might be some secret entrance?" 

"It is built on the side of a mountain, which is strange because it's such a small building for such a large mountain. You know what, now that you mention it, maybe you're right." "How about we split up and check through different areas of this one-room building and see if we can find another entrance and look for anything out of the ordinary." 

We moved pictures around like they did in old cartoons. I moved the torches that were up on the walls and everything. 

"Aah!" Beck screamed. 

"What is it? Did you find something?" Micah and I spoke in unison." 

"A spider landed on my hand and scared me." 

"Oh wow, what! You scared us for no reason, I chuckled."

"It may be time to turn around and head back home since we can't find anything. I can always meet Baby there to determine if we have the right place." 

Micha pointed out, "Maybe she even put down the wrong coordinates or address—who knows?" 

"Sounds good to me," Beck said out loud in agreement. She is kneeling on the ground, searching for something in her backpack. 

"What are you doing, Beck?" Micah asked her. 

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to find my bug spray. We're way out in the woods, and I'm not fond of bugs." 

"Well, I wouldn't suggest putting your backpack on the ground; then, you never know what's crawling around, I teased her." 

"Oh, here's my bug spray, and you're right. I will just hang it right here for a second, put on my bug spray, and then we can head out." 

Beck put her backpack on the hand of the marble statue that was in the middle of the altar. The hand cracked and bent downwards. 

"Oh no! Look what you have gone on and do! Did you break it?" Micah spouted. 

"No, I mean, I didn't mean to; I thought I would be stronger than that, being made out of marble and all," Beck said in shock.

Just then, the building began to shake. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the back wall behind the altar started moving. As the door widened, a small beam of light grew brighter inside. When it fully opened, we could see a cavern that looked like some inner earth habitat we had never seen before. 

Micah said, confused, " I am guessing this is what Baby wanted us to find." 

"Yeah, I'm guessing so. I think we'll just walk down through here and see if we can find her." 

As we ventured further into the cavern, the landscape opened to a meadow-like clearing. Baby was sitting there against one of the alien-like trees. It had to be some species that I had not known before or had never seen. Many of the plants and vegetation in this area were unlike any other. 

"Hello, girls. I see that you have found my location. It took you quite some time." 

"I mouthed off, yeah, what's with that? Could you have given us better directions?". 

"Yes, but it's high time you started learning and discovering things independently from me. There will be many times when you have to make some decisions by yourselves." 

"We have much to discuss for our tiny little team going forward. I want to start by addressing the range of your skills and powers, as well as some of your problem-solving skills", "which I did today." "Seeing as you were able to find this place, which is quite difficult, tells me that you guys can work in collaboration with each other." 

"This will be our new secret location for training and exercise. It has a unique barrier around the mountain that no demons can get in. This barrier conceals your spiritual pressure. The more power you output, the more spiritual pressure is detected in others with the abilities of a seer." 

"Welcome to the Guardians training grounds. As I said before, I will be the coach for all of you. Let's get started with some of the basics." "I will attack you and do whatever you must to protect yourselves. This is an assessment. I will judge your abilities based on three categories: strength, defense, and individual problem-solving." 

"I want to start with someone I am not very familiar with yet who is new to the group. Micah, please step up. Since you already possess waymaker skills, I'm guessing we already unlocked the ability to form weapons." 

"Yes, that is correct," Micah told her, "but I don't feel comfortable attacking you." "I barely met you recently and didn't particularly appreciate attacking my friends and their guardians. Also, my guardian never made me do this kind of thing." 

"I've already heard about your stubbornness, and your guardian was dismissed. Things are a little different now, and I do things differently. And I'm not as soft-natured as your previous Guardian might have been."

"You can choose to participate, or I'll Attack you myself, and you'll have to defend yourself. Either way is fine with me." "Even now, if you want to stop being a waymaker, the demon that dwells within you and your skills will continue to put you into trouble. You would get hunted down, possibly by another waymaker who wouldn't be so hesitant and execute you."

Baby said ruthlessly, "At this point, you don't have a choice; this is your better option. Your friends care about you, and I don't think they would have risked their lives for you to throw away yours." 

Micah smarted off. "Fine then, since you give me no choice. I guess I have to give it my all."

 "That is precisely what I want. Please feel free to use your aggravation towards me right now, and don't hold anything back. As I said, this is an assessment. After all, I want to get a full scope of your skills!"