Chapter 1
Fire rained from the sky, explosions shook the ground. The sky was full of aircraft both attacking and defending. Smoke filled the air in a choking haze, making it hard to breathe.
She ran, stumbled, and eventually fell to her knees. She threw a desperate glance over her shoulder. They were coming! She scrambled to her feet and ran. Something solid seemed to rise from the smoke and she ran full-tilt into it.
Falling once more, all the breath was knocked out of her lungs. She huddled on the ground, gaggling and choking. She managed to suck in a breath, but coughed on the smoke. She looked up at the figure looming over her.
Stark terror slammed into her and a scream tore itself from her. She backed away screamed again and...
--
Jaina Summers shot straight up, coming awake gasping for air. She grabbed a glass of water off of her bedside table and drank it greedily, She looked down at the blankets, and dumped the rest of the glass on a smoldering area.
At least this time she had woken before something had burst into flames. She flung herself back down and stared at the ceiling. The same dream, if only she could figure out what it meant. Was it part of her past? A Memory?
A clanging sound came over the intercom calling the residence of Raven house to the day. Jaina made her bed brushed her teeth and dressed. As she put on her shoes while sitting on the edge of her bed, she tried to remember something, anything from her past.
This was something she had done every day since waking up in downtown Los Angeles, naked, her arm broken, a gash on her thigh, and no memory. The first person who had tried to help her had burst into flames from the knees down. Jaina heard later the woman had made a full recovery.
After that, there had been a series of hospitals foster homes, and then juvie. Finally, after a year she had landed at Raven House. She had been there for six months, she didn't expect it to last.
One thing Jaina had learned was that no one wanted her. Certainly not her parents, whoever they were. None of the foster parents had lasted more than a month.
The whole thing pissed her off to the nth degree. Everyone acted like the amnesia and having powers was somehow Jaina's fault. She had decided long ago that she hated all adults and most kids.
Running a brush through her hair, she forced herself the calm down. When she felt more in control, she headed down to breakfast.
Grabbing a dish of scrambled eggs, Jaina sat down at a table across from Justine Carsen. Justice, as she was called, who was busy shoveling food into her mouth. The girl could pack away three times as much as anyone her age and still lose weight
Across from Justice on Jaina's left was Clark Hamaski, who until two weeks before had been Kara. He wasn't eating, rather he was staring at a bowl of oatmeal or rather scowling at it with fierce concentration.
"You look like you are trying to find the answers to all the world's problems in your cereal."
Clark glanced "I'm just worried."
"About school?"
"It's my first day going as myself, a guy."
Jaina shook her head, The idea that you could be the opposite gender from your body confused her. A lot of things confused her, though, with her lack of memory. It seemed to her though that Clark seemed happier now, and wasn't that the most important thing?
"I thought trans people were accepted, judging from the way Mrs. Thunderstone talked about it."
"You really don't know anything about it do you?" he snapped angrily. Across from them, Justice jumped and cringed.
"You're scaring your roommate," Jaina snapped back. "Relax kid. Clark's just jumpy. And, no, I don't know anything about it. You seem to forget I have amnesia. I haven't been around another trans person before. I'm sorry if I don't know everything."
Clark sighed. "Yeah, I know. Look not everyone is as accepting as the other kids in Raven House. Trans people get beat up, murdered, or bullied into suicide."
"Id anyone bullies you I'll set their hair on fire, ‘kay?"
"I'd rather you didn't. You'd get kicked out of school." Clark managed a smile though. That was good, Jaina thought. He needed to smile more. He was pretty good-looking when he smiled.