Shockwave 6

"Owwww!" he said through his fingers.
"Sorry!" Kia said.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Valkyrie asked and Kia noticed that she was shaking. The terror of the dream had not yet passed and the guilt that she had managed to forget little by little in the past few months came back to torture her in full swing. For a second, all her emotions came crashing in on her and she fell to her knees. Waves of nausea, dizziness, and pain wracked through her body. Kia slammed her head into her fists and forced herself to breathe again. As she calmed down, she became vaguely aware of Skulduggery standing behind her and Valkyrie's hand on her head. Their voices sounded like they were on the other side of a wall.
"Is she going to be okay?" Valkyrie asked.
"Probably. She's been holding all these emotions back since the house. Now I think they're hitting her full force. Just give her some time."
Kia didn't know how long she spent on the the floor with her head between her knees, gasping for breath. Finally she was able to slowly stand, though the ground felt a bit like it was shaking.
"Are you okay?" Skulduggery asked.
Kia closed her eyes and tried, for the first time in her life, to answer that question honestly.
"I don't know what's going to happen next," she said carefully, "but I know that I have to go through with it. Right?"
Skulduggery nodded.
"I think I'm ready but I don't think I'm okay."
Skulduggery sighed and then smiled.
"To me, it sounds like you're going to be fine."
Kia tried for a smile but from Valkyrie's amused expression was sure that it came out more as a grimace.
"Off to the Sanctuary then," Skulduggery said.
They walked into a creepy-looking building. Inside there were men wearing gray suits with large scythes strapped to their backs. Kia felt an overwhelming weight pressing down on her from the direction of these men. Unconsciously, she shifted her body to a more defensive position and prepared to run.
"Don't bother," Skulduggery said. "These guys are incredible fighters. You wouldn't stand a chance."
Kia shivered but didn't change her position. Skulduggery and Valkyrie seemed pretty calm around the gray suited men and Kia wondered whether it was because they were used to them or because they felt that they were no challenge.
"I'm going to have to keep an eye out for those guys," she thought wondering what she had gotten herself into. The three of them walked through the whole building with no problem. It seemed that they were pretty well known in the Sanctuary and Kia found herself wondering again and again just how much power they had. After about ten minutes of weaving in and out of the maze of hallways that the building was made of, they found themselves in front of an office. Skulduggery and Valkyrie just walked in without even knocking as if they owned the place but the office belong to someone else. He was a small man, not much taller than Kia's 5'2'' and thin but Kia could see from his build and from the way he moved that he was a man to be reckoned with. He was confident in his moves and as a martial artist, Kia could see that in every step he took, every time he reached to grab another paper on his desk it was deliberate and with no extra motion.
"Is everyone here incredibly powerful?" she asked herself.
"Hello, Tiny," Skulduggery said. Kia thought Skulduggery was being very rude but Tiny just nodded a greeting to him. It was hard for her to tell whether it was just because he was a frighteningly calm man or that was actually his name. In the end she decided that even if he was very calm, he would have still said something to Skulduggery albiet calmly. Plus, there were people with names like Skulduggery and Valkyrie so why was Tiny a weird name?
"We have another one," Valkyrie said and she stepped aside so that Tiny could get a better look at her. He walked around the desk and offered his hand to her.
"Hello, my name is Viselius Tiny. I'm the officer here in charge of taking care of the people who are randomly developing new magics. You, of course, fit under my jurisdiction. What is going to happen now is that I'm going to place you into the custody of one of our volunteers who will proceed to take care of you. This person will train you to use your magic more proficiently and will also teach you about the magical world so that you can fit in. Did you get all of that?"
Kia nodded. Even though Mr. Tiny had said a lot, he had said it slowly and clearly. Kia wished her teachers at school talked this way because then she might actually learn something.
"Actually, Tiny, I wanted to talk to you about that. You see, I am offering myself up as her mentor, if that's okay."
Mr. Tiny looked at Skulduggery critically.
"What are your intentions for her?" he asked in such a suspicious manner that Kia began to wonder if these people would be the best people to take care of her.
"Nothing special. I'll hone her skills and teach her stuff and send her out into the world. Simple."
"You don't plan on getting her involved in any of your crazy schemes like you do with Valkyrie right?"
"I'll try my best not to, after all my intention is to protect her not to get her killed."
The look of suspicion still had not left Mr. Tiny's face.
"You must have an interesting power miss..."
"Kia Alexander," she replied automatically.
"Yes, she must," Skulduggery said.
"Wait, you mean that you haven't seen it yet?" Mr. Tiny asked.
"Nope," Skulduggery said. "Well, if all this is okay with you, I'll be taking my leave. Let's go Val, Kia."
Mr. Tiny looked like it wasn't quite okay with him but Skulduggery was out the door before he could say anything. Still, Kia was able to glimpse the expression of satisfaction that flitted across Mr. Tiny's features.