The kids wake up the next day, ready to get their chores done. As they walk out of their rooms and wash up for the morning, they notice something.
"Alright, move it over here." Alex guided some of the helping residents as they carried pieces of tech towards painted markers on the floor.
"Hey, Alex. What's going on?" Akilah asked as she brushed her mullet down.
"Milo made some gizmo last night that he wants to try out. He says it could help us stay under the radar for a bit longer." Alex said as she helped the other residents place the device down on the marker.
"Wait, so they could actually find us, after all?" Vida asked with concern.
"Don't worry about it, honey." Bloom gave her signature smile as she wiped her hands off.
"Could they? They will!" Milo seemed to come out of nowhere, jumpscaring the group as he continued his speech. "There's no way the Correctional Forces won't mobilize towards our location in the next few months. It's likely they'll come with even more force than any of you have ever seen-" Milo's worrying speech was interrupted by Bloom as she shoved him out of the way.
"Milo, you're worrying the kids. Go help somewhere else." Bloom insisted.
"Where is Hendrix?" Alex asked. He was usually tagging along when she saw the other six kids.
"Oh yeah, where is he?" Taro asked as he looked around.
"Probably sleeping." Vida sounded stern yet emotional as she walked off to do her chores, leaving half of the group confused and the two other girls knowingly somber.
"Okay, then… I'll go check on him. You guys wanna join?" Chase pointed at Kai and Taro as they nodded.
They made their way back down the hall of dorms until they reached Hendrix's. Chase realized he hadn't been in Hendrix's room since they settled in at the compound as he opened the door to see band posters strung up across all four walls, but no Hendrix.
"He couldn't have gone far in those stupid crutches." Taro gave a chuckle as Chase and Kai laughed in agreement.
In the courtyard of the compound, a still brittle Hendrix was bent down on all fours, sweating like he was in 200 degree heat.
In one of his hands, he gripped the broken neck of his guitar.
"I'm so useless." Hendrix mumbled to himself.
He stood up and held the broken neck in the pose of a sword.
"C'mon. Just one more time." Hendrix closed his eyes and shook the broken neck of his guitar.
Suddenly, the strings grew into steel tendrils once again. Hendrix was taken back, but quickly locked back in.
"Now for the next part." Hendrix focused all of his Spirit into his palms.
"Listen to me." Hendrix seemed to speak to the strings as though to reason with them.
"LISTEN TO ME!" Hendrix screamed it this time.
The strings all turned around and seemed to charge at him just as they did to Officer 1060. The strings were too fast for a weak Hendrix, who was unable to dodge any of the attacks. Hendrix closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to surge through his body.
To his surprise, the strings seemed to absorb into his body, like they dematerialized into him, one in each arm, one in each leg, one into his head, and one directly into his heart. The strings rapidly untied from the knobs of the broken neck, eventually absorbing their entireties into Hendrix.
For a second, Hendrix felt serene. Before he could enjoy the serenity, however, a shocking vibration rang through his body. It was like no pain he had ever experienced.
Hendrix's vision devolved into blurry lights as he collapsed onto his back. Over a few seconds, he seemed to have been transported into a backyard.
"Wait, this is the Frewin's backyard." Hendrix got up in shock. It was just as he remembered.
He looked around the yard as he recognized some of the kids playing around.
"Akilah? Chase? Amora… Vida." Hendrix tried to reach a hand out to Chase as he ran towards him, but the child ran right through Hendrix like he was some kind of ghost. He understood now, this was just a vision.
He looked a little farther into the backyard and saw his child self sitting next to Mr. Frewin.
"Oh, I remember this." Hendrix said as he looked at his child self. The little Hendrix held his guitar as Mr. Frewin pointed to different spots on the neck of the guitar.
"Yep, you got it. Now put your ring finger right there." Mr. Frewin guided little Hendrix's fingers to the correct spots.
"And that's the last chord. Now play those four like I taught you." Mr. Frewin smiled as little Hendrix got ready to play.
"Oh, and what are you two up to?" Mrs. Frewin asked as she walked over.
"Show her the song I taught you, Hendrix." Mr. Frewin smiled as little Hendrix began to play.
Mrs. Frewin seemed to immediately recognize the song as she put her hands to her cheeks.
"Ohh, you learned my favorite. So sweet." Mrs. Frewin smiled at little Hendrix as he continued to play.
Mr. Frewin got up as little Hendrix continued to play. He then took Mrs. Frewin's hand and started to dance as he sang the lyrics.
"What a beautiful face I have found in this place that is circling all round the sun." Mr. Frewin sang as he spun Mrs. Frewin around. Mrs. Frewin was laughing and smiling just as little Hendrix was.
Soon, the other kids came over and slowly joined the dance. Amora and Chase copied Mr. and Mrs. Frewin as they tried to act like a grown up couple. Akilah danced simple moves, as she always said she hated dancing. Little Hendrix was captivated by Vida, who danced wildly, as if no one was there.
Suddenly, Hendrix's vision cut to a series of images in succession. Mr. Frewin's dead body. Mrs. Frewin's dead body. Amora and Chase crying on the train to D.C.. Vida crying in the greenhouse.
"Remember what you caused." He heard a younger version of himself say.
"If I knew I would turn out like this, I would've starved on that street." A younger Hendrix said.
Hendrix was taken back by this. The younger Hendrix's words seemed to segway right into the next vision as Hendrix saw his younger self crying while walking down a dark road.
The young Hendrix stopped in front of a jazz club, where he heard a woman singing over a smooth jazz band.
He stood there at the door for what seemed like hours, just admiring the way the music made him feel. He closed his eyes and swayed back and forth as he tried to forget his problems.
"Hey kid, are you lost?" A man that the young Hendrix didn't recognize bent down to talk to him.
"Mr. Frewin.." Hendrix said as he watched the vision go on.
"Do you like music? I can take you in while we wait for your parents." Mr. Frewin asked the young Hendrix.
"I don't have anyone to wait for." The young Hendrix mumbled under his breath. It was a miracle that Mr. Frewin even heard it.
"Alright, then. How about you come live with me and my wife, I'm sure you'll be happy there." Mr. Frewin smiled as the young Hendrix showed surprise in his eyes.
Mr. Frewin stuck out a hand and smiled. After some apprehension, the little Hendrix grabbed his hand as they began to walk down the sidewalk together.
"Remember what you caused." Little Hendrix's voice rang out in Hendrix's ears as the vision blurred once again.
Hendrix gasped as he awoke back in the courtyard. Hendrix began to cry uncontrollably as he tried to stop from making noise.
Hendrix looked down at his hands through his tears.
"I won't let anyone else die." Hendrix mumbled to himself. "One more time."
Hendrix stood up as he gripped the broken guitar neck, but before he could wield it in the pose that used before, the neck crumbled into splinters and chunks of wood. Hendrix stood for a second, feeling defeated.
After a pause of disbelief and sorrow, Hendrix remembered how he did it the first few times. Hendrix knew he was able to spawn strings from himself without a tool, it had skipped his mind up until now.
"One more time." Hendrix repeated.
Hendrix held his hands straight out and clenched his fists. A few moments went by with nothing but silence.
Suddenly, three strings appeared from each of Hendrix's sleeves. Unlike the other times, the wove patterns in the air that seemed intentional.
Each string vibrated. Each string gave different frequencies, playing a song through pure vibrations. After a few seconds, these random vibrations grew into an intentional pattern. Hendrix was taken back as they played Mrs. Frewin's favorite song, the one he was thinking about.
This took Hendrix out of his focus, which caused the strings to go limp and regress into Hendrix's arms. Even though it was only for a short time, the powers that Hendrix had felt in those seconds were a resounding success to him.
Hendrix dropped to his knees as he grew weak once again. He forgot that he hadn't entirely recovered from his fight with Officer 1060.
Through his weak state, Hendrix let out a slight smile.
"I'll try my hardest to keep you safe." Hendrix thought about Vida's smile.
Vida picked at her lunch while the rest of the kids scarfed down their servings.
"Hey, Vida. If you're not gonna eat it then give it to me." Chase talked through a mouth full of spaghetti.
Vida pushed her plate towards Chase, but Akilah pushed it back towards her.
"You don't need anymore Chase." Akilah rolled her eyes and brought her attention to Vida. "And you need to eat. This isn't like you, Vida."
"You might have overreacted, but your feelings were valid." Amora smiled at Vida. Vida gave a small smile back.
"You're just thinking about your boyfriend." Kai said as Taro and Chase busted out laughing. Vida began to blush.
Taro turned around and hugged himself to imitate kissing.
"Oh yeah, Hendrix. Kiss me right there." Taro gave his best Vida impression as Kai and Chase continued laughing.
Taro was met with a metal lunch tray over the head.
"You three are the same, after all." Akilah said as she hit Kai and Chase with her tray as well. Vida let out a little chuckle as everyone smiled, feeling successful at cheering her up.
"I'll be in the greenhouse if you need me. Let me know if Alex and Bloom want to get back to training." Vida got up and left her full plate on the table.
The group watched her leave with some concern in their minds.
Vida opened the doors to the greenhouse to be met with a surprise in Bloom watering the plants.
"I didn't know there was anyone here, sorry." Vida turned around, wanting some time to herself.
"No, stay. I've been meaning to talk with you." Bloom's words surprised Vida, who sat down on the stool next to her.
"I heard what happened between you and Hendrix," Bloom said as she continued to water the flowers. Vida looked away in a sort of somber heartache.
"I remember the first time I saw one of my friends get hurt." Bloom continued. "Me and Alex had just said goodbye to Sierra, oh I mean Mrs. Frewin." Bloom chuckled.
"I know her name is Sierra." Vida smiled.
"Alright. Well, her and Jaden, oh I mean Mr. Frewin, they were the ones who managed to any suspicion the Correctional Officers had. It was magical, they way they talked their way out of any hint of Spirit that the officers caught on to. This made us more comfortable with going outside the compound without extra precautions. We weren't worried about leading officers back to the compound because Sierra and Jaden had already thought of how to keep the location under the radar. That's why we've lasted so long. Their precautions still live on with us." Bloom smiled at the memory as she continued.
"But once they left, we still went out on the town with that same kind of relaxed mood. Me, Alex, and our childhood friend, Maybelle, we all decided to go down to the bar to have some drinks. We were celebrating my birthday. After a few drinks at the bar, we started to head back, but Maybelle had to use the restroom, so we stopped by a run down gas station. A Correctional Officer happened to be there, but we didn't think anything of it. She went in and used the bathroom, but after 5 minutes we saw the clerk speedwalk out of the store, so we went in to investigate." Bloom took a pause as she got ready to continue.
"Maybelle was laying on the floor in a pool of blood. The light had already left her eyes. The officer stood over her body and told us to evacuate. He gave us some nonsense about how she was a wanted criminal. She must have accidentally showed some sign of Spirit control." Bloom started to tear up.
"I tried to get to Maybelle's body, but Alex dragged me back into the van after the officer pointed his gun at me. After that, I blamed myself, then I blamed Alex, then I blamed Maybelle. I didn't know who was at fault. The image of her lifeless, bloody body stayed in my mind. Then, Alex said something to me. She said 'The government did it, honey. The cruel regime we live under. Now, it's not about what you could have done, but what you're gonna do about it now.'" Bloom looked over at Vida to see if she had gotten the last part.
Vida looked as if she was processing the last line of Bloom's speech. The line rang through her head as she boiled over it.
"I'm not saying Hendrix was just some innocent bystander, but what'll you do now?" Bloom said as she stood up and wiped her gardening apron off.
"I'll leave you alone now. The flowers are really growing fast, aren't they?" Bloom smiled and walked out of the room.
Vida thought for a second.
"I'll get stronger. No one will get hurt next time. not even Hendrix. Not even me" Vida mumbled under her voice.