Kattie looked at Lana strangely, "Sven steal?"
Lana nodded. "Someone bullied Dobin today for a level 3 book which means he doesn't need his level 2 book any more… Right?" She smirked.
Kattie laughed, "oh, you're bad! What's the plan?"
"I was thinking send you up to the boys' room to have Sven get acquainted with what the book looks like. When we find out where the bastard sleeps, he can fly in through the window and take the book. He's in section 5."
"We can try it," Kattie smiled.
Smiling, Lana finished all the work for bread then molded four 8-inch hoagie-style loaves of bread and put them in the oven. She took advantage of the baking time to read a book on herbs and try to learn what they all look like. She knew it was a monumental task but she was up for it.
The oven timer went off and Lana jumped. She removed the bread from the oven and let it cool while she prepared the stuff to go on it. By the time she was done, the bread was cool enough to touch. She prepared two sandwiches and wrapped them in food-grade paper. Plastic was outlawed a long time ago and replaced by products that were more natural.
She took a detour on the way up to the third floor and decided to stop by room 2215 after requesting Kattie to bring the remnants of her stew from earlier to the boys when she went up. Lana took a deep breath then knocked on the door. The dark-haired boy answered and she got nervous. She handed over a sandwich, "Can you please pass this to Vorden? I made him miss his dinner in the canteen and thought I'd be nice."
Quinn looked at her confused, "You are?"
"Oh, I'm Lana." She gulped again, "just tell him I'm sorry if I upset him. May I ask your name?"
"I'm Quinn," and he extended his hand for a shake and she took it.
She gave a small smile, "I hope he enjoys it." She quickly left to head upstairs. She felt so small in Quinn's presence when looking at his aura. She didn't deserve to be in his shadow. She shook her head at such thoughts and reminded herself that was the orphanage talking. Still, that feeling remained. She hated this part of herself. She was taught she was worthless. The idea of changing it seemed like a higher mountain that overcoming bullies to her.
Coming out of her thoughts, she found herself standing outside Logan's room. She knocked then heard a beep as the door unlocked. She took that to mean "enter" so she did.
Peeking around the corner of the door, she saw the diminutive boy sitting at a desk in a large room with gadgets everywhere. She smiled at how busy he had been in just a few short days. She smiled brightly as she approached his desk. "Hi Logan!"
He sniffed the air, "Is that bread freshly baked?"
She giggled, "Yes, you have a good nose." She handed the sandwich over. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?"
He looked up at her and nodded and returned his eyes to the sandwich. He unwrapped it and started eating before she even started speaking. The expression on his face made it clear he enjoyed it.
"Do you know how abilities work? If there a way I can grow my ability without it being displayed on my watch? I don't want to dump my problems on you but I want to keep my strength a secret. Is there a way I can do that?"
"Well, the only way the number on your watch will stay the same is if you top out on your ability and are no longer able to grow your strength. May I ask why you are hiding it?"
Lana looked at him with a bit of fear in her eyes.
"Look, I can help you if the reason is good enough but I need to understand the issue if I put my neck on the line. An altered watch is something they can find out about."
"Altered watch? You can do that?" She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. "Two years ago, a man who used work for this base came to volunteer several days a week with us. He saw some of my ability and he warned me that I would more than likely come here and there were people here that would come for me if they knew my ability and how strong it is. In fact, there are only two things I display in combat so everyone thinks I'm better placed as a farmer. Dens even went to far as to alter our records to indicate we had been adopted by a rich family to give us some sort of backing on paper but if they try to call those "parents" we will be screwed."
Logan finished eating his sandwich and leaned back in his chair. "What is the exact nature of this danger?"
She took another deep breath, "There is a member of the Big Four, the Leaders, who has an ability to take the ability of others. He then gives them to those who are loyal to him so he can gain more power. He CANNOT get his hands on my ability. It would be too dangerous in his hands. He travels around to all the bases, but this one in particular, he gathers students with the help of a general. He takes their abilities and they are sent to the dungeon under the accusation they are a terrorist. It's literally the source of one of my nightmares."
Without further questions, he holds out his hand for her watch. She hands it over and in less than a minute, he hands it back. "That was a really good sandwich. Can you bring me a few more?"
She smiled, "I was already planning on it. It was another thing I was going to ask you. I have a curiosity about food, things I grow period. I can test the quality of the nutrients in relation to degradation in a lab. My Agriculture Club teacher has already signed off on my being able to do experiments to get the most out of my ability. What I need is taste testers for when I get all set up and am able to conduct those types of studies. Would you be interested in participating?"
Logan smiled a tired smile, "Anything for science."
Lana smiled back, "thank you!" One last question then I will let you rest. You look so tired. Is there a directory to find out which room someone is in? I saw someone I wanted to talk to enter the class 5 section of the building but I don't know which room he's in."
"What's his name?"
"Mohawk."
"Room 5205."