Coral was not excited about her life now. “This is what they call a meal around here, ugh,” Maggie huffed as she gave the bowl the stink eye. “What is it?” Coral asked. “Dunno” Xavier sighed. Coral got a tiny bit of the mush of her spoon and was about to force it down her throat when she heard a loud bang and saw smoke creep toward her cell. She would have panicked but Maggie and Xavier looked unfrightened so she tried to look calm too. Coral started to feel a little hot (was the temperature rising?) but she still kept a calm face on. Just then a guard ran down the hall screaming with his hair and clothes on fire. Now Coral could not stay calm, she started to look for a way out before she got burned alive! “Girl, relax,” Maggie said. “You’re going to be fine.” “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE CALM WHEN A GUY RAN DOWN THE HALL ON FIRE!!!!” Coral yelled. Suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her jump, running down the hall was a tiny girl with bright red hair that was standing up like flames. The little girl stopped at Maggie’s cell “Hey, Mag,” she said in a sassy voice. “Hey, Ruby” Maggie said. “Can you get me and Xavier out please?” “Why do I have to always go around saving your butt?” Ruby responded. “Um.. Excuse me?” Coral said from her cell. Ruby jerked around. Her eyes were a startlingly bright blue, like the hottest flames at the center of a fire. “So, there’s a new girl in town?” “Yeah, she’s water.” Maggie said. Ruby made a face. “Water, eh? Well, I’d better stay well out of her way” Ruby joked, though this was no time to be joking. “Um, could you hurry up and save us please?” Coral asked. Ruby smirked. “Why so soon? I could use a good nap.” Coral wanted to scream. All that stood between her and freedom was a tiny, sassy, redheaded girl. “Hey, little firegirl,” Coral said. “If you don’t let me out I will shoot you with a blast of my water.” Ruby looked her up and down seriously. She nodded as if deciding something, then smiled. “Oh, well then, I’d better hurry up,” she giggled. “Oh and please don’t call me little, I’m 12.” “Is this some kind of game to you?” Coral demanded. Ruby rolled her eyes. “Chill, won’t you? I’m gonna let you out,” Ruby said. “But I’m gonna let Maggie and Xavier out first.” Then she did something that made Coral’s eyes open wide. Her hands heated up and started glowing red. When she touched the bars, they melted like snow in a microwave. Coral gasped. Ruby saw the expression on her face and smirked. “It’s called fire power, sweetheart.” The cell doors swung open and Maggie stepped out. She ran over to hug Ruby. Coral estimated Maggie was about ten, but even she was taller than Ruby. “It’s so good to see you again!” Ruby smiled. “You too.” “Um, how about saving us first and happy reunions later?” asked Xavier. Coral had wanted to ask the same thing, but she didn’t want to make the tiny girl so mad she wouldn’t rescue her. Ruby sighed. “Picky, picky. But fine.” She did the same thing to Xavier’s bars and then Coral’s. Ruby pulled the door open and thrust out her hand. “Take it,” she commanded. “Uh . . .” Ruby rolled her eyes (she did that a lot). “It’s not 2,000 degrees anymore, I promise,” Coral took her hand. True to her word, it wasn’t burning hot, though it was still warm, like a fresh loaf of banana bread… Great. Now Coral was hungrier than ever. Ruby pulled her out of her cell into the hall. Coral took a deep breath. She was so glad to be free at last. She had only been trapped in her cell for a few minutes, but it felt like forever. Maggie looked at Coral. “You never did say your name.” “Coral. It’s Coral.” Ruby nodded. “A fitting name for someone with water power. The best my parents could come up with was Ruby, ugh. It makes me sound so civilized.” Coral laughed. She was starting to think maybe she and Ruby could be friends. “You wouldn’t want to give people the wrong impression.” Ruby smiled. “I know, right?” Suddenly they heard voices from down the hall “They’ve escaped, get them!” “And that,” Xavier said, “is why we shouldn't have wasted so much time.” “What do we do now?” Coral asked. “How about run?” Ruby suggested. No one argued. They ran. Coral and the others ended up following Ruby because none of the others knew where the exit was (as they all arrived with sacks on their heads). The shouts of the men behind them startled Coral and she tried to run faster, but the men were gaining on them. “Everyone prepare to use your powers!” Ruby shouted in front of them. “What!?!” Coral shouted back, confused. “I’ll demonstrate,” said Xavier. He ran to the back of the group and shot a bolt of lightning behind them, he was shot forward by the energy of the bolt and went way ahead of them. “Xavier!! Come back!” shouted Maggie. “You come to me!” he shouted back. They ran faster.
Coral tried to do it as well but went way farther than them because she could not control it yet. Suddenly more of the men ran into the hallway between them and Xavier. “Hands up!” one shouted. Xavier looked shocked and Coral thought he was going to surrender, but instead she realized he was faking, just to make the men less worried about him. His tactics were working; they turned to face the group of children. Just as they were approaching to grab Maggie, Xavier shot a bolt of lightning at the thugs from behind. Coral gasped. “Are they dead?” “Of course not, silly.” replied Maggie. “No one can die from one bolt of Xavier’s lightning.” the way Maggie said it made it sound as if she had a crush on him. “Why do we even care?!” called Ruby. “Come on, this is our chance!” They sped forward on cue and followed Ruby toward freedom. Freedom was further away than Coral first thought. There were more guards along the way but Ruby and Xavier took care of them. They were running down the hall when fifteen men ran in front of them, they turned around to run the other way but sixteen more were there as well(Coral had counted). The two original guards must have gotten their friends. Like before, Xavier stepped forward to solve the problem, but as he was preparing a big bolt of lightning in his hands two of the men came up from behind him, put a sack over his head and started to carry him away. “XAVIER!!!!!!!!” Maggie screamed and she ran faster than Coral thought possible after them. They rounded a corner so Coal could no longer see what was going on but she heard some crashes and bangs and a lot of thuds, so she guessed Maggie was unleashing a large amount of boulders. A few minutes later she saw Maggie walk around the corner with Xavier close behind. Xavier looked embarrassed that he got recaptured so quickly after escaping. “Are you alright?” Coral asked. Xavier didn’t answer. “He’s fine,” Maggie replied for him. “Just a little shaken. Come on, we’re close now!” As it turned out, they weren’t so close. As they sped around a corner, Coral’s heart beat as fast as her footsteps. It was a dead end. “What now?” she panted. “MMMPPPHHH!” Ruby said. Coral whirled around. Both her and Maggie had sacks over their heads and were being dragged away. As Coral watched in horror, Xavier was also captured. One man moved toward Coral. She knew she was next. Coral knew what she had to do. She had to use her powers. So far she had been relying on the others to do that, but now she was the only one left. Coral took a deep breath. This is just like in the secret clearing . . . except instead of practicing a routine, you’re trying to incapacitate your captors. Coral raised her hands to the sky (well, the ceiling in her case) and the rain poured down. Well, it wasn’t rain exactly. It was more like a giant waterfall pouring down from the ceiling - looking like it would all drop on top of Coral, except it was an illusion; the water wasn’t touching her at all. To Coral’s dismay, it swept away friends and enemies alike. “Hey, come back!” she called after her friends, to no avail. Well, that’s just great. Suddenly she had an idea. She imagined the water pulling only her friends back. She imagined them beside her. Come on, come on . . . Whoosh! Beside her, sheltered inside the waterfall were her new and very wet friends. “Wow,” said Maggie. “Just wow.” “That was cool,” Xavier admitted. “But how are we going to get out of here now?” “Hmmm . . .” Coral mused. Then she had another idea. “Maggie, can you break off a chunk of that wall?” Maggie did as obliged. Coral surveyed the chunk. It looked big enough. “Everybody climb on.” Coral, Maggie and Xavier got on, but Ruby hesitated. “Just what exactly are you planning to-” Coral grabbed her hand and pulled her on. The currents whooshed them off and carried them down the hallway and out the door to freedom. Finally.
