Excerpt: Crystalline

He dwindled on what he wanted to do for weeks. The pamphlet that the man had given him was now worn and falling apart around the edges. He knew just about everything he could about this academy now. They were a group of people who were known as 'mineral'. They possessed the traits and attributes of the common minerals found on planet Earth.
He had figured out that Meagen was probably known as Magnetite, as they all went by the name of the mineral that they most closely resembled. So many times through the weeks had he found himself wondering about what he would be known as. There was no way of knowing unless he went to the training and discovered what abilities were hidden inside of him. Inside of everyone, the man had said, but there was a disclaimer at the bottom stating that if for some reason there was no ability to be found inside of the person being tested, they could be put to work at other places in the program such as tactics and nursing or could chose to opt out of the program all together.
So there was a chance he would not be chosen at all. He would dream about it at night, relentlessly. Some nights he would be able to do what Meagen could, bringing together cars and welding them into one with his strength. The ability always varied, but it was always the same dream that kept him itching to go to sleep, to want to see just what he could do.