The Sirens were an interesting group. I don’t know about the Welders or even the cadre, but Carpenters don’t have much interaction with them. I think I was the only Carpenter to have contact with any of them. The Sirens use the sense of sound for their ability. That isn't technically how it works, they use the sound vibrations or vibrations in the air, but it is a lot easier to just say they use sound. Unfortunately, that is about all most kids know about them, the cadre probably know more, but there are so few of them that no one bothers to learn.

After I saw Claire at the assembly, I was eager to learn more about her, but I only managed to find out her name. After a few months, some of the restrictions of the camp were lifted. Once they were raised, we were told that Camp Walker had a small library. I couldn’t remember if Sergeant Michel had mentioned it during our tour of the facility, but I was determined to visit it at any cost. The months of monotony were draining and I wasn’t the only one that was looking forward to going there.

On my first visit to the library, I saw Claire reading a book. I was surprised to see her sitting at a table and reading in one of the corners. I stopped suddenly to stare. My abrupt stop must have alerted her to my presence because she looked up. We locked eyes for a moment and her eyebrows raised in what I almost thought was surprise. I had seen her a few times in the months that I had been there, but it was the first time she noticed me. At that time, I didn't have enough courage to say anything to her, so I just went about my day. It was winter at the start of my second year in the camp when things drastically changed, and I drummed up the courage to talk to her.

I had been going to the library as much as I could. Partly to break up the monotony of life at Camp Walker, partly to learn, but mostly to see her. Almost every time I went to the library, she was there, sitting at the table in the corner and engrossed in a book.

After a few minutes of hiding behind a bookshelf and simultaneously panicking and psyching myself up, I turned the corner and power walked to the table. To keep from making eye contact too early and aborting the mission, I made sure to keep my head down as I stepped forward. It worked because I quickly bumped into the chair that was pushed in on the other side of the table.

"Hey. Uh, I mean hi," I said. I looked up at that point and smiled.

She was sitting at a small desk, her back to a wall with a thick book propped open in front of her. She looked at me for a couple of seconds, and just as I decided to turn around, she clapped her hands. I turned at the sudden sound and her hands made and intricate pattern. I guess she could see I was confused so she took a deep breath and wrote something on a piece of paper. She flipped the small notepad around and I read, "Can I help you?"

I didn't know much about her at that point, so I didn't know much about Sirens. Additionally, my brain wasn’t working too great as I tried to talk to her. I forgot that the most important characteristic of a Siren is that they can't speak. Well, they can talk but when they do, it creates powerful shockwaves, deafens everyone around and who knows what else.

"Uh, no." I stammered. "I just wanted to say hi, and er, yeah." I was failing hard at this, and I could feel it getting hot in the library.

"Hi," she wrote to my relief, but she turned away from me and began rereading her book.

"My name is Aidren," I said. She didn't respond. I actually knew her name, but I was hoping that she would introduce herself. However, when she didn't, I got the hint. I mostly got the hint. I figured I would give it one last try before giving up. "So, what are you reading?"

Going up to her and saying something was probably the bravest and dumbest thing I have ever done. She couldn't really respond verbally, but to my relief, she did write her answers. I learned that the intricate pattern she had initially made with her hands was sign language. I noticed she had a book on the subject, so I decided then to learn sign language too. Of course, she had her powers just as long as I had mine, so she was most likely still learning. She lent me the book and I learned all I could and practiced with her every chance I got. For a while after that, being stuck in the military camp turned prison for children with weird powers, wasn't so bad.

Even though some days didn’t seem horrible, the monotonous repetition caused the days to blur into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years.

During that time, if I wasn’t too tired from my daily activities, I made sure to practice my powers. After my accidental manipulation of my bed and sheets on the first night, I decided to see what else I could manipulate. I tried my pillow, the blanket and the mattress. I actually made them all softer, but I put them back before anyone could notice. I continued to practice on other materials when I could get a hold of them. I was trying to see if there was a limit to what I could change and to become generally better.

I only practiced in my room at night when everyone else was asleep, so I didn’t give away my ability to the cadre or the other cadets. I didn't think they had cameras in our rooms, but I also didn't know what type of monitoring devices they did have in there. Everything that I did, I was either in my bed or in the corner so no one could see me. I didn't use my powers for anything other than wood during the day, as it would have been too tempting if I started using it for anything else.

I was able to fool everyone since I still had to touch things to manipulate them, but I wasn’t confined to the same elements as Carpenters or Welders. I found that I could manipulate anything and it was almost an automatic process. Once I looked at something and concentrated on the object, I could see its vibrational signature. Once I saw that, my hand automatically matched the signature. Then, I could manipulate the object. It took time to manipulate the matter in a way I wanted, but I became fairly quick compared to most of the other kids, and the more I practiced, the faster I became.

The downside was that the scope of what I could do wasn’t as large. I couldn’t make living matter grow, change apples to oranges, or do a few other things that others could. The scope of my ability just caused people to think I was weak, so I kept manipulating wood and I didn’t get discovered.

Through practice and experimentation, I found that my particular abilities were wholly different than everyone else. Still, I continued to be on the lookout for anyone pretending to have different powers like me. However, if I hadn't been discovered than others might not either.

I just couldn't understand how the cadre didn't know about this. Unless they did? But that didn't explain why I was placed with the Carpenters. It also left a lot of other questions that needed answers. Like if there were other kids like me, where were they? Were they not dangerous? I seriously doubted that, because that was why I was here. All this speculation continued to lead me to the same conclusion I had after I was told about my parents.

I concluded that the cadre was lying to us.

If they were lying to us about the reason we were in the camp, then what else were they lying to us about? I became obsessed with finding out this answer and I knew that the only way I would be able to find out and live, was to be as proficient as possible with my abilities. Because once I found out the truth, I was going to get out of there. Although, first I had to devise a plan to get the information I needed.