Movie night was one of the new things they were introducing in order to help everyone calm down. I don’t know who was responsible for choosing the film but I found “The Great Escape” to be a bit ironic considering my own situation. I’d never seen it before though it was famous enough that I had at least heard about it and had a passing knowledge of the story.

“Can I sit here?”

I looked around but didn’t see anyone, though the seat beside me was empty. Then I noticed the floating bag of popcorn.

“Can I sit here?” they repeated.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied.

The chair beside me shifted slightly and the bag of popcorn appeared to float downward.

“Popcorn?”

The bag tilted towards me.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a small handful.

“I’m a friend of Hava’s,” they said. “We knew each other before we got our powers. Went to the same high school.”

“Must be nice to have a familiar face here,” I said.

“It’s certainly made my transition here easier,” they replied. “I don’t think it’s quite been the same for Hava.”

In the film, soldiers were being marched into their prison camp, many of them trying to escape already. I couldn’t help but laugh at their attempts. I doubted any of their methods would be of any use to me, and unlike them, I doubted I’d get away with any of it once caught. Something told me that Colonel Trenton wouldn’t take any chances on me if he caught me trying anything like that.

“How is Hava doing?” I asked.

It had been a couple days since my brief conversation with her and the others and I hadn’t had a chance to meet up with them again.

“Hava’s gone.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied.

“She said she wanted to go home and went to speak with our sergeant. That was the last I saw of her. By the time we were back in our barrack all her stuff was packed and gone.”

“Lucky her,” I muttered.

“I don’t think so,” came the whispered reply. “She’d told me about you and your conversation. Hava didn’t show off her other powers very much, but she was pretty dangerous to be around if she lost control. I’m wondering if they didn’t let her go, like you said, and locked her up instead.”

“Look, I already got in trouble for having that conversation. They have listeners or something that are probably taking notes on everything we’re saying.”

There was a faint chuckle.

“I’m the listener assigned to this room,” they said. “We’re okay to talk as long as we’re not too loud.”

“Do you know where Hava might be?” I asked.

“I do. Now don’t react. I’m going to put something into your pocket. Don’t look at it until you’re back in your room.”

I felt and heard a piece of paper being slid into my pocket though I didn’t see anything besides the fabric on my pants shift a little.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A map,” they replied. “It’ll be invisible for now but that should wear off in a couple hours.”

“Wait, so are you wearing clothes?” I had to ask since I’d been assuming this whole time that they were naked.

“I’m fully dressed, yes,” there was a hint of embarrassment mixed with amusement in their voice. “Anything I touch will start to go invisible after a few minutes. Just look at the bag of popcorn.”

I looked and could only see a faint outline where it was.

“Must make sneaking around really easy,” I said.

“Sometimes. Crowds are hard since people bump into you and figure out you’re there almost immediately. Doors are also tricky since you have to wait for someone else to open them and then slip in before they close the door all without being noticed.”

“I guess that’s true,” I said.

“I have to get back to listening,” they said. “Enjoy the movie.”

The chair shifted and I caught the faint sound of footsteps walking away. It was hard to pay attention to the rest of the movie with that map sitting in my pocket but I didn’t want to arouse any suspicions. As soon as it was over, though, I went straight back to my room where I at least could expect a certain level of privacy. I pulled out the folded piece of paper and spread it out on my bed. It was still semi translucent but not so much so that I couldn’t read the map. The island was smaller than I’d thought, right around the same size as the Cain Center island. We were near the middle, about four or five miles from the coast. Then there were the facilities for the non-supers that my dad and I had stayed at a few miles away. Finally there was a detention facility on the western shore.

It wouldn’t take me very long to get there, though doing so without being seen would be tricky. Then again, why would I need to go there? It was probably a large, sealed compound with powerful supers for guards. Did the invisible super expect me to go and find Hava?

It then struck me that the invisible super had never told me their name. Their voice was also androgynous enough that I wasn’t sure if they were a guy or not. I had assumed they were a guy at first since most supers here were guys, but now I couldn’t be sure.

Another idea came to me. Was this a trap or a test put together by Colonel Trenton? Maybe he was testing my loyalty with this, sending in one of his listeners, giving me this map, even showing that movie could all be in an effort to see if I’ll try and escape or something.

The thing that stood out to me the most was, if they have the ability to be invisible, and the detention facility is only a few miles away, what has stopped them from going to investigate it themselves? That alone confirmed it for me that this was a set up.

“So now what?” I asked myself.

Colonel Trenton was certainly going to be having me watched to see what I do about this incident.

Even though it was late, I got up and walked out of my room, map in hand. It didn’t take long before I found my sergeant.

“I need to report something,” I said after saluting.

“Go ahead, Nayak,” he replied.

“An invisible super gave me this map during tonight’s movie. I didn’t get their name but they said they were the listener for that room. They seemed to want me to go and investigate the detention facility to look for a friend of theirs.”

The sergeant was quiet for a moment as he looked over the map. Finally he nodded and tilted his head indicating that I should follow him. He led me to where I assumed this would go, to Colonel Trenton’s office. The sergeant knocked.

“Come in,” Colonel Trenton said from inside.

I was surprised he was still here, considering how late it was, but perhaps that was even more proof that this had all been a set up.

The sergeant and I walked in and saluted.

“Private Nayak has informed me about an invisible super trying to get her to go AWOL,” the sergeant said. “This map was given to her, and she was asked to go in search of another super who may be detained.”

He placed the map on the desk. Colonel Trenton’s face remained neutral throughout the report. He asked me about it and I told him what I knew, making sure to make it sound as though I didn’t suspect that this was a set up.

“Good job reporting this,” he finally said after the brief interrogation. “I’ll see that the invisible super in question is dealt with appropriately. Anything else?”

“No sir,” I said.

“Dismissed, then,” he waved his hand for us to leave.

The sergeant and I made our way silently back to the barrack and I closed myself back in my room.

“Now what?” I asked myself.