Loud Penny

The library was scarce, the Monday afternoon drag of caterpillar classes coming to a cocoon. Many were still in these classes, staring at clocks for the final bell, while others gracious for a free period were helping themselves to food. Arbor, though, was in the library, and she indulged herself in a corner, in an ancient book on power-building and a list of names. The list too uncrossed, unfulfilled. No matter how many times she tried to ficus her eyes on the book, they'd gravitate back, flitting to Kayla Croft's name. It bore a sharp point, a small skid of graphite. She'd broken a pencil there. Arbor wanted to cross it off so badly, wanted to glide the powdered gray across the ink, but it was protected, by a forcefield or her own mind. It didn't count. She folded up the paper and took out a penny.

Spin, spin, whir, whir. The fate of the library was in that penny. It was amazing to hold that sort of power in her hands, and had she not been long past her days of abusing it, she would have loved to blow the building up. She was but a girl, with nothing but the jumble of change in her pocket. It had to be a gas leak. It would be too easy.

But that was not why she was at that school. She was there to cross off names, to get better at crossing off names. Spin, spin, whir, whir, the coin danced circles around its origin in a perfect twirl, a loud twirl, sending orbicular echoes pulsing down the shelflines before her. Perhaps she didn't notice. Perhaps she didn't care.

A young boy sat not too far away. IN his hands was a rather large book of 'Grimm's Tales'. The only thing keeping him from losing himself again. Ever since had had become overloaded with knowledge, he had been anchored by this book. It was like an old friend, the first book he learned to memorize. Completely in German as well. When the boy had first read it, he hadn't realized that until his mother pointed it out. The words made sense despite it being in another language.

The memory made him smile. It was a old memory, and quite frankly, he was surprised he remembered it. For a long moment he felt warm inside. Acting on this nostalgia, he traced the title with his fingers, then slowly opened the very old book. It's spine crackled in protest to the foreign movement. This book and not been opened in years, if the spine and the dust that came off of it was anything to go by.

Chip continued to flip through the pages. It wasn't much of a children's book. Most of the endings being fairly gruesome, or inappropriate. Not that he cared too much. It wasn't anything like 50 Shades of Grey. That was a terrible book to come across. That, among the other books he found...

His mind began to wonder. A bad thing for someone like him. This could mean triggering another episode. Yet he continued his wondering thoughts. All the books he had seen...

Chip froze.

Out of all his time in the library, there had not been a new book like this one. This was not a normal book to be found in the library. A list of student's names. He wouldn't have paid any mind to it, had it been in the office. But this is the library, and it was not located behind the librarian's desk. It was not a list of students missing books.

Chip rose out of his seat.

He left his book behind, he didn't need it. He hurried down the isles, obviously worried. Listed names usually meant something bad. Especially when it was not the administration. The boy turned the corner, and froze in his tracks. Chip identified the girl as Arbor Banks. 13 years of age, and can control metal. Something to that extent. The power was very dangerous, did this girl aim to hurt those students on the list?

Chip had to act. It put him on edge. Hell, even his name was in there. "Why do you have student's names written down, Arbor?" His voice held a slight shake, yet he stared back at her. He had unknowingly used her name, a side effect of knowing their name at a glance.

Arbor looked up at this boy. This pathetic, quivering boy. He used her name, and this confused her. Did she know this boy? Was he from one of her classes? She blinked rhythmically, the small girl leaning back. Her thick auburn vest crunched at the pressure. "Who are you?" She said, but there was a demanding monotony to it, the kind of question that sounded more like a statement. She didn't try to cover up the paper, or hold any kind of shame. His question meant nothing to her. She almost didn't remember it.

The boy bit his lip and stared back at the girl. Should he tell her? Even his name was written there. What did it mean? Why would he tell her his name, if Arbor had such a list. It hardly seemed innocent. Would it be wise to tell her? Chip's hand clenched and unclenched, unnerved with the girl. "Chip." He spoke suddenly, and even he wasn't aware that he was going to say it until it came out of his mouth. Perhaps it was good that he didn't give a last name. Although, then came the thought; His name isn't exactly common. A wave of anxiety made his heart hasten.

And sure enough, with a quick scan of the paper, Arbor circled his name, Chip Dalton. She stretched, making sure to kick the chair back with her boots, letting our a small sound before leaning forward and standing up. She looked him in the eye for a brief moment, eyes glancing down only a few times as she folded up the paper and put it in her pocket. "Fight me," she said, tone casual and low, like it was something she said often. Her hand was already jumbling through her pocket, the change inside.

The kid took a few steps back, a hesitant look on his face. Fight her? Was Arbor crazy or something? Chip gave her a perplexed look, his hand reaching over to the isle by his side. His hand rested on one. The book was about how to take an SAT, or prepare for it. Not that it mattered. There was no way he could beat this girl in a fight. Even if he tried to, Chip figured he'd just end up hurting himself. "Uh...No thanks?" He said, slowly backing away. His hands dragging along the spines of the books as he walked.

Arbor didn't like being denied. She looked at the boy, who appeared the same age as her, and began walking after him. "I wasn't asking," she said with a yawn, taking a coin from her pocket and flicking it into the hair. It landed and she flicked it again, it landed and she flicked it again. She approached him with a saunter, her free hand in her pocket, and as the penny landed once more, it flattened on her thumb, thinning to a wafer, edge sharper than a sword. "If you can last a few minutes, I'll let you surrender." She was all for letting him tap out, but not until she knew he put himself into the fight. Not until she knew she could beat him when he was trying.

They backed farther from the seclusion of the library corner, edging to where the public studied. Arbor didn't seem to mind.

Chip continued to back away, blue eyes set on Arbor. He began to dig into his mind, searching for any facts on her. A birth certificate popped up. Quickly grasping that, he began looking through it for any clue to personal information. A deep frown crossed his lips as a certain fact popped into his mind. "Why don't you live with your grandfather?" A millionaire! Anyone would love to live like that. Not be at some school. Digging in more, rumors about a group of middle-schoolers who liked to cause some trouble. Her name on the group. "What did you and your friends do back in middle school?"

Arbor froze her advance. For the first time in their short meeting, her eyes seemed to waver. A short rise, a confused blink, and then she began to walk forward. A power. It had to be a power. A knowledge power, one that most likely had to offense. "Run," she said, her tone a little harsher, and rushed forward, slashing the disc at him, as they stood at the edge of private space.

Chip took her advice and ran with it. Quite literally. Without thinking, he snatched a book from the shelf, turned tail and took off through the library. Chip was not very athletic, and knew immediately after he began to run that Arbor would catch up to him in a matter of seconds. There was no reason why he should leave the library. It was his element. As he turned into a isle, the blond motioned with his left hand. This send the books flying into the isle and hovering there. Thus hopefully barring Arbor from taking that path.

It deterred Arbor for a moment. She stopped, watching him leave as books began to hover, forming a leatherbacked barrier. He was using his power. He'd be allowed to surrender soon. Arbor threw up pennies, one after the other, flattening them with a touch and launching them into the wall. Of course, despite the ease of cut, the books did not fall apart or budge. The blades did fly through, however, with little momentum lost. She could hear the whiz and smash of the blades colliding with some wall, some shelf, and the screams of those realizing what happened. The library began to empty. Arbor kicked the tattered wall down.

Where did he go? She thought she saw him turn right, and walked down that way, flipping a coin on her thumb.

Chip had just moved out of the way when the disks went whizzing by, one just cutting the back of his arm. A slit of blood stained his jacket, yet the blond kept running. He knew that if he stopped, there'd be more than just simply a cut on his arm. Chip pushed away past the stinging pain, and rounded into another isle to the left. Suddenly stopping, the blond turned and created yet another wall. A hint of sweat lined his forehead. With cringe, the Winter set up another wall to the opposite side. Giving the impression that he could have gone the other way.

He took off again, his aim was towards the Fantasy section. The fantasy books would be his best bet if anything.

Tk tk tk. She called to him like a cat, the flicking of a penny giving her position away. "Let's end this." It wouldn't be much time until the guards or security or someone came. She came across another wall, taking time to cut through and break it down into a pile of triangular papercuts, hardcover shivs snowflaking to the ground. She stepped into the fantasy section.

His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, and his fingers were shaking as he flipped through the pages of the book. He had to get at least something to fight back. Arbor seemed to cut through all of his books, leaving him pretty much defenseless. A book in hand, Chip then concentrated on that page. A glow filling the air. It was going to alert Arbor to his spot, hidden behind a book case. But if he could just get it out in time...

Arbor was pretty clueless to his general area. She had seen him turning, saw his fleeting figure a few times, but had lost him in the lines of books. She swallowed, looking around, until a bright light came into her vision. She smiled, though realizing she couldn't climb through the case, she decided on different means of offense. Tingk! A penny was flicked through the few rows gapping them, through the empty spaces between books, landing on the floor nearby where she saw the light. The penny sat there, idly, then began to fold on itself, twisting and bending as a horrifying clatter began to arise. Tnkatnkatnkatnka, it was like teeth clicking, or laughing, the air around the coin dancing with a hazy hum.