Poetry

On a dark cloudless night,
I peered into the sky,
When suddenly I saw a
Shimmer of light
My Heart could not deny.
It glared upon the surface
Of the earth on which I lay,
And lifted me into the night
Towards the God unto whom I pray.
I saw the earth from up above
It's mystery abounding
Filled with trees and streams I love
My heart was now strongly pounding.
The earth I saw was sad and weak
It had signs of neglection.
As the tears ran slowly down my cheek
I cried for it's lost perfection.

The Project

I know I am not as "serious" of a writer as the rest of you, but I still would like to post some of the things I have written and receive comments as well.  Be gentle. :)

               Alex threw her suitcase and book bag into her car and then backed out of the driveway.  She was late to pick up Pierre and she knew how much he hated being late.  She also knew that it would take them a good five hours to get to Eureka Springs and she wanted to get four solid hours of work done on the project tonight.

                She pulled into the cracked driveway and stopped the car.  The ancient looking house that stood before her seemed to cry out for mercy.  Its lavender paint was chipping off and it’s porch looked as if it would collapse from underneath you if you stepped on it.  Alex found it quite repulsive, but Pierre said that if had a touch of flare.

                A tall, handsome man came out from the fuchsia door with a night bag in one hand and a briefcase in the other. He wore a pair of loose khaki shorts and a white Polo shirt. His dark tan seemed even more golden in the April sunshine.  As he approached the car, the mid afternoon sun caught the green of his eyes and they sparkled like lovely pools of water.

                She had always found him attractive, but today he seemed more than just attractive; he seemed sexy and irresistible.  As he opened the car door and sat in the seat, Pierre thought to himself:

                “Oh my gosh, she’s gorgeous!  I wonder what kind of kisser she would be?  I wonder if she thinks about me as much as I think about her? ”

He shook away these thoughts quickly though.

                “No!  What am I thinking?  She’s getting married in just a few months.  She’s in love with Ken.  I introduced them for heaven’s sakes.  I can’t be attracted to Alex.  We are here to finish our project and nothing more.”

                He decided to brush the thoughts aside and chide her for being late.

                “It’s about damn time you got here. I thought you said 3:30?”  Pierre questioned, being quite sarcastic.

                “You know I love it when you’re mad.  It makes things so much more interesting.  Now let’s hit the road.”  Alex jabbed back at him.

                Pierre chuckled to himself and then adjusted himself in the buckle seat.  The drive from Lawrence to Eureka Springs was absolutely gorgeous.  The newly budded leaves and the emerald green hills and meadows beckoned the two friends to a state of relaxation.  The sun began to set when they reached Mark Twain National Forest.  The sky slowly changed from yellow, to orange, to red, to a deep shade of purple.

                “Wow, that was beautiful!”  Pierre decided to break the silence.  Somewhat shocked by the sincerity of the statement, Alex could only answer with a barbaric sound “Yeah”.

                “Almost as beautiful as you.”  Pierre continued, with the same sincerity as his comment about the sunset.

                “Thank you dawling.” Alex said in an overexaggerated brogue.  “Is there any particular reason for kissing up to me this way?”  Alex teased.

                But he wasn’t kissing up.  He admired her shapely figure and incredibly long legs.  Her long, wavy hair gently blew in the breeze from the open car windows.  He loved her big brown eyes which had a certain melancholy to them when she was concentrating.  Her breasts, perfect and round, which were hidden underneath a tight fitting pink cardigan sweater.  He loved her.  He loved her stunning body and her alluring eyes.  He loved her kind and gentle way of looking at everything in the world.  He loved her orneriness and her stubborn side.  He loved her, but he knew he shouldn’t.  Ken, her fiancé, was an old high school buddy.  He introduced them to each other.  Now he almost regretted it.

                Alex and Pierre were both graduating in May, so they decided to get together and work on their senior project.  It was due in two weeks and they had barely scratched the surface.  They needed to concentrate all of their time to the project this weekend.  That is why they were here.

                Alex’s parents owned a bed and breakfast in Excelsior Springs.  She thought it would be a quiet place for them to work, away from the crazy college life at the university; away from the temptations of end of the year parties.  When she was younger, she loved to go to the inn.  It was always so quiet and peaceful.  It seemed that the whole world had slowed down to a crawling pace inside this town.

                “Welcome to Eureka Springs” the sign read as they approached the quaint little town in the hills. The narrow streets and the Victorian homes smiled on them as they drove.

                “My parents place is just up this hill.”  Alex beamed with anticipation.  “It’s funny,  every time I get near this town I am filled with excitement.  I feel like a ten year old again who is on her way to grandma’s house.  It’s so comfortable.  Everyone in town is friendly.  The streets are filled with quaint country stores and restaurants.  I guess that’s why mom and dad decided to buy this place.  They came here for their tenth anniversary and fell in love with it.  It was eight years and about twenty vacations later that they bought the Piedmont.  I can’t wait to show you the place,Pierre, you are going to love it!”

                They pulled up in front of the two-story Victorian home.  It was painted blue with pink laced around the windows and other trimmings.  It had a porch that encircled the whole house.  Off to the north side of the porch, you could see the rolling hills and peaceful countryside of the Ozark Mountains.

                Alex pushed open the heavy oak door that led them into the house.  She immediately walked up the curving oak staircase that led them to the rooms.

                “We can stay in Suite #6.”  Alex said more to herself than to Pierre as she entered one of the rooms.

                The room, much like the rest of the house, had dark walnut floors.  The walls were papered with a delicate cream wallpaper, laced with pink roses.  In the center of the room was a queen sized bed covered with a fluffy down comforter that matched the pink roses of the wallpaper.  The intricately carved wood posts of the four poster rose high above the bed.  In one corner of the room sat a rocking chair that appeared to have rocked many a child to sleep in its lifetime.  On the opposite side of the room sat an antique oak dresser.  The only other piece of furniture was an antique desk that had been painted blue and had chipped away with time.

                “It’s very charming.”  Pierre said, responding to the room.  “You are right, I do love it.”

But what he really meant was that he loved her.  The room was filled with Alex.  The softness of the walls, the wholesome old-fashioned charm of the floors and furniture.  The room was Alex and that is what Pierre loved about it.

                “Well, I’d show you the rest of the house, but the trip took longer than I expected and I really think we should start working.”

                “Working?”  Pierre whined the most childish whiny voice he could muster.  “I don’t want to start working.  Can’t we just fool around?”

                “Of course we can dawling, but I usually like to play hard to get.”  Alex smirked.

                Pierre’s words were teasing of course, but his heart wasn’t.    Was Alex aware that his playful flirtations were more than just friendly banter? 

                Pierre thought to himself, “Alex is the perfect woman for me.  I have loved her since the first time we met.  This is my one last chance to tell her.  If I leave this weekend without telling her how much I love her, then she will marry Ken and my chance will be forever lost.  I’ve got to tell her, but how?”

                Alex noticed the sudden sullenness on Pierre’s face and wondered what she had said.  They have always joked around with each other like this.    Oh well, it was a long drive and they had a lot of work ahead of them.  Maybe he was just stressed.  Anyway, they really did need to get to work.  So she looked over at Pierre, winked and said, “Let’s get to work.”

To be continued

The Plan

I know I already read this today, but I wanted to post it just in case anyone had any other comments they wished to give, after having read it in.. er.. black and beige.

Impossibly bright golden-platinum and hot white-blue headlights briefly blinded and then faded behind them as they rode silently along the interstate.  The weekend’s events had been simultaneously baffling and enlightening, and occurred in such a whirlwind fashion that when the driver of the rented SUV glanced in the rearview mirror, he gasped in fleeting shock as the white and orange insignia of the U-Haul trailer he was towing almost completely blocked his view.
                The bewildered driver was tired; he longed to be home in his apartment, indulging in a frosty foreign beer and soaking up the aromas of patchouli incense and chicken marsala.  This was a scene he frequently repeated after a day of hard intellectual labor, but as he’d barely finished any complex thought in the chaos of the last two days, he almost felt unworthy of even that one savory memory.

                Ebon considered himself a rational person, but also one who could appreciate a healthy amount of spontaneity.  If asked to describe him, he expected his colleagues and close friends and family would say that, yes, he was a responsible, ethical scholar, but that he had been known to take calculated risks from time to time with where he decided to call home from time to time, and that the money he earned that didn’t go to bills or the purchase of a few items for his own immediate pleasure typically ended up in an account dedicated to the reservation of necessary funds for trips that often took him halfway around the planet.  He wondered if those summers of boundless fun and exciting adventure had come to an end.

                And yet, Ebon found himself oddly accepting of this notion, feeling now that the most recent change in the plan he thought was infallible, might be exactly what he needed.  Asleep in the passenger seat next to him was Zenith, whose friends and family affectionately called him Netty, a twenty-two year old man he’d met when Netty had barely entered adolescence.  For seven years, they had spoken mostly via email about the trials of high school and early adulthood that had once seemed so dire to the younger man.  But those juvenile preoccupations were nothing compared to the uncertain future that the pair faced now.

                Ebon was intimately aware of Netty’s hand on his thigh.  He had never imagined their relationship turning into this… whatever this was.  When they first met, Ebon was almost thirty; Zenith was barely fifteen.  He hadn’t expected the force with which Netty pursued his friendship, but six months later, they still emailed back and forth almost daily.  So unsure of himself, if Ebon didn’t respond to emails within a few hours, Zenith was prone to send more, apologizing generously for saying anything which might have offended him.  Taking respite in his old office, where he was an assistant magazine editor, he used to chuckle in spite of himself at how eagerly this teen reached out to him.  Eventually, he set clearer boundaries with Netty, but he didn’t miss a beat and changed his behavior very quickly.

                He drifted into a sweet recollection of the cathedral they visited together with Netty’s mother, where Ebon had calmly told them everything he knew about Saint Peter.  Zenith had hung on his every word, his eyes sparkling as the freshly-lit candles danced in his peripheral line of sight.  The stained glass masterpieces and high tapered ceilings were breathtaking, yes; but not nearly as much so as the shy smile and blush that engorged his cheeks whenever their gazes met.

                Suddenly, Netty’s hand squeezed the flesh of Ebon’s upper leg.  He must have been dreaming, but what about?  Since their lane and the two surrounding ones were empty, and a barrier separated those lanes from oncoming traffic, he briefly looked over at the young man and sighed.  “What the hell are we doing, guy?”  There was no response from the softly-snoring boy, and he hadn’t expected one.  They would do as Ebon tended to, and figure it out when they got where they were going.

FaI chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Alright” said Lance rotating his shoulder to make sure it worked properly. He had taken off his armor which was now lying on the table across from him as the maintenance robot went about the repair procedures programmed into it by Mar-Cii.

Very few people had seen Lance Sunquencher without his helmet on. Those who did preferred the faceless visage of the helmet to his actual face. It was not an ugly face just intimidating. He had short black hair and a bright blue eye. The only feature that marred his image was the eye patch over his left eye, which he had lost in a fight with a Dracodian Glacian . Many of his employers had wondered if he wore it for appearance but only a few had voiced the sentiment aloud. They were always answered with the same action. He would lift up his eye patch and reveal to them for an instant a vacant socket. Most of them would simply shake it off by saying that they found it hard enough to look into his one eye, and that two would probably paralyze them.

Who those employers were ranged from local crime lords to the big timers to occasionally planetary governments. He was the best bounty hunter in known space.

He looked over at his armor. Lance reached out and pressed a button on the control panel in the wall. “Hey Mar-Cii how is the repairs to the shielding going?”

A smaller image of Mar-Cii sprang to life in front of him. The only difference between it and the one he had left in the cockpit was that this one red hair had darkened, a sign of fury. She crossed her arms and stared at him. It might have been frightening except for the fact that Lance could look straight through her to the control panel behind her.

“I…” Mar-Cii said her hair getting darker by the second “…am perfectly capable to fix whatever damage you do to your equipment. And I don’t need you badgering me. If you would just exercise a little bit more caution then maybe you wouldn’t have to worry so much about it.”

Her hair was almost black at this point and she was glaring at Lance like she would want nothing better than to program the maintenance robot to fuse his lips shut. Then a ripple went through the AI’s frame.

“Who’s calling?” Lance asked

“The old snake himself.” Answered Mar-Cii, her hair lightening to a dark burgundy. Do you want to return to the cockpit to hear it?”

“No.” said Lance “Just patch it into here.”

Mar-Cii’s hair flashed back to black. Unlike the cockpit the control panel could not sustain two holograms. Another one of Mar-Cii’s quirks was she was very vain about her avatar.

“Fine.” She said, her voice making clear it was not, and disappeared. In her place was appeared to be a black snake in what could only be described as a red velvet tube.

It was an Anoconduan. They were snake like aliens whose former home world had been miles after miles of wetlands. It however was destroyed in the waning days of their brutal wars with the humans. They held a large empire of planets that was even larger than that of the Humans. However their real empire was crime, which as this one had once told Lance “know not the boundaries set by foolish sentients.

Its green eyes widened in surprise. “You honor me you facccccce Ssssunquencher. I trusssst then that your lasssst enterprissse went well?”

 “Don’t they always?” Said Lance cooly.

“ Good good good. It pleassses me to hear it my friend. For it would not do my heart well to hear ssssomething had happened to my mossst trusssted employee.”

“ I sincerely hope Hissy…” Lance said in a low voice “ that you are not making the same mistake as your father did three years ago.”

The Anoconduan shifted his coils restlessly. It might have been fear from the memory of what had happened to his father or the use of Lance’s nickname for him, for he said after an interval. “ When will you learn to adressss me by my proper name Hissithissiith?”

“I’ll get on to that.” Lance said dryly “Look I know you didn’t call just to make sure everything was fine with me. Now what’s the job?”

Hissithissith let out a hiss and then said. “You are alwayssss sssso direct Ssssunquencher. It issss both aggravating and reassssuring at the sssame time.”

“You are however correct” he continued “ asss of yessssterday an employee of mine hasssss left his posssition asss my accountant. He hassss ssssince been under the protection of the Human Intersssstellar Empire. It isss believed they plan on usssing his knowledge assss evidenccccce aganssst my… asssssociation.”

“Your gang you mean.” Said Lance

“sssss ssss such words cannot properly describe my orginasssation. I myssssself will of coursssse be untouched assss a national of the Anoconduan Empire I have immunity. However sssuch a thing will sssset me back a great deal ssso I wassss hoping you could help an old friend for a reasonable price of course.”

“Where is he being kept?” 

“On the Planet Rome VII in the new safe house, the one said to be impenetrable.” Hissithissith adjusted his coils again “ It might interesssst you do know that Captain Kamya has been asssssigned to guard him.”

“I see.” Lance said with a shadow of a smile flashing across his face. “I trust you have the layout of this safe house?”

“If I can assssssume you are accepting…”

“Of course you can.” Said Lance with growing impatience.

“Then I leave it with you.” Hissithissith vanished and a building appeared.

The defenses were intimidating. They had a new state of the art energy shield that could withstand a nuclear blast. There were always twenty armed guards on duty. To get through you had to go through retinal scans, hand print voice identification, and dna testing. There was no way to blast or trick your way in.

Lance scrolled down to the safe room. It was 200 feet below the surface in a chamber similarly defended from a nuclear blast. In case of an emergency the witness and his family were sent down there right a way. Lance examined the designs again. The energy field that protected the safe room was powered by the main generator.

 Lance thought. 200 feet. “Mar-Cii.” He said suddenly

“Yes.” Said Mar-Cii’s disembodied voice. Her tone indicated she was still put out with him.

“Can you bring up the plans of Rome VII’s major city with the data of the safe house installed to its blank spot?”

“Of course I can. What do you think I am? Some 21^st century search engine?”

In moments the plans popped up. It was as Lance had expected. The sewers fell 250 feet below the surface. That was standard procedure for Imperial cities with over a billion inhabitants. Also it was impossible to communicate over any frequency down there.

Lance said “Can you show me where the sewer drains out?”

“That I’m afraid would be pushing the limit of this unit’s holograph crystal” said Mar-Cii slyly. “It would be much easier on the equipment if you used the cockpit’s holodisplay unit instead.”

Lance knew that this holodisplay was more than capable of handling a hologram of the size he was asking. The reason Mar-Cii suggested the one in the cockpit was because it could also sustain her avatar. Lance didn’t want to waste time and knew that if he protested Mar-Cii would go and another tangent about not taking care of his equipment.

“Fine.” He said rising from his chair.

He walked down the passageway to the cockpit. The doors opened for him on approach. “Looking good as always.” Lance said as he stepped through the doors. Mar-Cii’s hair went from dark red to strawberry blonde in an instant. “So what did you find?”

Mar-Cii, still flattered by the compliment responded more brightly than her usual self “After going through an intensive filtering process it goes to black stone lake. I take it you have another scheme so simple that no one has even considered it.”

“Yeah” said Lance staring at the diagram “I sure as hell do.”

Rolo-Dee looked around at the strange human faces around him. He, the-mate-of-his-life and their offspring had been put under the protection of these strange creatures on the condition he testify against Lord Hissithissith. He shuddered as he remembered the glowing green eyes of the Anoconduan.

Rolo-Dee was a tanamduan. He had small black beady eyes and a long snout much like the anteaters that were said to once in habit the human’s homeworld of Earth. He had soft brown fur with a bald patch on his belly. He had always been good with numerals. That was what made him valuable to Lord Hissithissith. But he could no longer work for a criminal when the-mate-of-his-life was with child.

One of the humans was approaching him now. It was a female he assumed. She looked like she was descended from the humans on the continent of Asia. She gave him the greeting “How are you doing?”

Rolo-Dee responded in his own trumpet like language. The translator device attached to his clothing the emanated. “I am fine Captain Kamya. If I understand the meaning of your greeting.”

She let out what he assumed to be a display of amusement. At that moment Rolo-Dee spoted an insect flying above the human’s armored shoulder. He inhaled quickly and suck it into his snout. It tasted rather good.

“That’s disgusting!”

One of the dark skinned humans had let out that exclamation. He had a look of disgust on his face. Captain Kamya said sharply “Go back to your post Lieutenant.”

“Aye Aye Captain” said the human, snapping a small solute.

Rolo-Dee looked around at the Imperial soldiers. He knew well the security measures they took. Yes, he was safe here.

Private Jacob Jones was on guard duty. It was the most boring job in the world. No one in their right minds would try to break into the facility again. The last three that tried had very painful and public executions. Wasn’t it bad enough the other guys called him JJ. Why did he always have to get the worst job?

 Suddenly one of the alerts was going off Private Jones began examining the view screens. There was a man outside with some boxes. This wasn’t right. They had just received a food shipment yesterday. “State your business.” He said over the intercom.

“I’m your guy’s shipment of food.” Said the man.

Jones tried to get a read out of the man’s biosigns and what was in the boxes. To his surprise he found out that all systems except for audio and video were being jammed. This wasn’t good. “Captain?” he said over the comm chanel.

“Yes what seems to be the problem?” Captain Kamya’s voice said from the audio emitter.

“A man just came by that said he was here to deliver food.”

“We had a delivery of food yesterday” the captains voice said

“Yes ma’am I know that.”Jones explained “But when I try to get a reading on him and the cargo all my sensors are jammed.”

“Then order the auto turrets to shoot him.”

“But ma’am the auto turrets targeting systems use thermals which are being jammed.”

“Damn!” the captain’s voice said. “Alright Private here’s what you do. Tell him to wait there. I’ll send a squad up. When they get there let him through. Then we can apprehend him and find out whatever is in the boxes.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jones said. Then he switched to the man outside. “Could you wait a moment while we get the appropriate personnel to take your cargo? You understand. Procedure.”

“Of course” said the man cheerfully.

Jones looked to the vids coming from the first check point. Ten Imperial guardsmen were standing there. One gave him a thumbs up. “Alright then, if you would please come in and submit to a search everything will be fine.”

The man had little choice. He had ten plasma rifles aimed right at his chest. To soldiers grabbed him and pulled him inside. Four more grabbed the boxes and brought them inside. As soon as they were in Jones closed the door. The shields quickly went back up.

The men began going through the boxes. They pulled out various things and checked them all with hand scanners. One of their alarms began to go off.

“What have we here?” said soldier bending down to pick up the cabbage he had been scanning. He there was a sharp crack of electricity and the man withdrew his hand.

“Hey would you look at this energy shields. What do you think Jones?” the soldier said.

Jones was about to answer but suddenly the systems were suddenly no longer being jammed. The cabage was a modified holovid player, but the modifications were defensive not lethal. It had a state of the art energy shield around it. Other than that the rest of the cargo was clean. Then his eyes went to the man. His eyes widened in shock.

“WAIT! THEY WEREN’T TRYING TO KEEP US FROM KNOWING WHAT THE CARGO IS! IT IS THE MAN! THE MAN IS A…!”

Private Jones never got a chance to finish that statement, for at that moment the small nuclear bomb inside the pseudo man went off.

Wake

Chapter 1

It was a crisp fall day and Spencer Nolan was noticing just that fact as he rode his motorcycle to school. The leaves were festive colors of orange and yellow and red and they were at that perfect stage where, when tread upon, they released the most delightful crunching sound.

Spencer slowed as he reached the parking lot of M. Watson High School. He parked his bike and took off his helmet. As he turned to go inside, he noticed ominous dark clouds in the distance, no doubt warning of an impending storm.

“Spencer!” At the sound of his name, Spencer looked away from the clouds and saw his longtime girlfriend, Mandy Roswell, waiting for him at the front door.

“Hey Mandy.” He slipped his arm around her thin waist as he reached her.

“Spencer. I need to talk to you.” She hesitated. “After school, okay?” She kind of squirmed under his arm.

“Alright babe. Is everything all right?” He peered into her clear, blue eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. I have to go to class.” She replied quickly. He gave her a concerned look and released her as he reached hi homeroom.

As she began to walk away, he called after her, “I love you.”

Mandy looked back, smiled weakly and replied, “I love you too, Spencer.”

Spencer followed her lean figure with his eyes until she rounded a corner and disappeared from view. He turned and took his seat. Right next to Misty Roswell, Mandy’s identical twin. Both girls had big blue eyes and short, straight, very blonde hair, but that’s where the similarities ended. While Mandy took on the typical schoolgirl prep look, Misty preferred the ‘scene’ style. Today she had plastic dinosaur jewelry, skinny jeans, pink converse, oversized eyeglasses and to top it all off, she was wearing hot pink, fake hair clip-ins and pigtails. Misty noticed him looking and flashed him a too bright smile.

“Like it?” She asked.

“Well, it’s different.” He answered honestly. “But not bad. It’s very… you.”

“Okay, I’ll take that.” She laughed good-naturedly and turned to the front.

“Hey Misty. Do you know what’s going on with Mandy? She seems really upset.”

Misty turned reluctantly and gave him a sympathetic look. “Of course I know, but you know I can’t tell you.” She frowned. “I don’t know how you’ll take it. None of us saw it coming.” Her frown deepened and as an afterthought she added, “Everyone would have thought that, out of the two of us, it would have been me, what with my crazy fashion. It seems to fit my stereotype better.”

Spencer opened his mouth to ask what the heck she was talking about when their teacher entered and immediately began the lesson. Spencer anxiously waited until class was over and then rushed to corner Misty. He hoped to find out what she meant, but when she saw him coming, she quickly disappeared into the hallway’s surge of students. With Misty’s hints spinning through his thoughts the whole time, Spencer’s day seemed to drag on and on. What could it be? Was Mandy cheating on him? Was her family moving? Was she sick? Was she going to die? His speculations became increasingly worse as his class drug on.

When his last class finally came to a close, he was overcome with a terrible sense of dread and as he walked outside, the ever-darkening sky only served to darken his mood.

He caught sight of Mandy standing alone by the gym and drawing near to her, he imagined of every step as a beat in a death march.

“Hey Spencer.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the empty gym. “How was your day?”

“It was okay.” It was miserable.

“Good, good.” She put her hands behind her back and stared down at her shoe tracing a line on the floor. He knew that gesture well. She did it before every kiss goodnight. She was waiting. She was nervous. So was he. He could see as she visibly gathered her courage and looked back into his eyes.

Here it comes. He thought, bracing himself.

“I’m gay.”

Spencer’s mind stopped working. “What?”

Mandy’s gaze locked back on her shoes and stayed there this time.

“I am… a lesbian,” She faltered. And then more firmly “I like girls.”

Spencer’s mind began to sputter to life, but only minutely. His only focused thought was She’s not going to die! “Oh Mandy! That’s great.” He stopped. Not the best reaction. She gave him a startled look and he hastily tried to backtrack. “Well… Uh. Not great, but at least you’re not going to die…”

“Spencer, what are you talking about?” She knit her eyebrows together.

“Well I was trying to guess what might be wrong and I thought that maybe you had a terminal illness or something. You scared me, Amanda.” He sighed.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” She said relieved. She looked up as if a new painful thought occurred to her. “You do realize it’s over, though, right?”

“Oh.” He echoed her. He hadn’t realized.

“I’m sorry, Spencer.” Her eyes began to well up and she looked over her shoulder at the basketball team filing in for practice. She hated public displays of emotion. When she looked back, she had regained her composure and she met his eyes. “I do still love you, just not that way.”

Spencer nodded once and realizing there was nothing more to say, turned to go. He walked to the door and then glanced back at her. She sat with her knees to her chest and her head down sobbing. His heart lurched. “I’m glad you aren’t dying, Mandy.” He hesitated and added, “And I still love you, too.”

When he walked outside, it wasn’t raining yet, but the wind was fierce. Spencer’s jacket whipped around him as he walked to his bike. He didn’t know much about motorcycles except how to ride them, but he did know that his old one wouldn’t fare well in heavy rain. He mounted his bike, fastened his helmet and sped out of the parking lot. He wasn’t angry at Mandy for being… he couldn’t make himself think it. At least not yet.  But what she was, but he was upset their relationship was over. He knew it didn’t make sense but emotions rarely do. He clenched his teeth and sped up. He couldn’t think about his break up if all his concentration was being used keeping his bike upright in the wind. Just as he finished his thought, all at once, the heavens opened up and the rain began to fall in torrents all around. The roads became slick very quickly and Spencer flipped on his headlight hoping it would show him his way through the dense sheets of water. Unfortunately, the light only reached about two feet in front of him until the rain essentially solidified and blocked all of even the smallest hints of illumination from reaching its destination. Spencer broke his concentration when he realized he probably missed his turn and as he felt his bike fishtail, he also realized he was still going way too fast. With this in mind, he gripped the handlebars tightly with both hands and struggled to slow the speeding bike.  He cursed loudly as a wet leaf stuck to his helmet over his eyes and shook his head furiously. The bike was still going dangerously fast and Spencer was trying to avoid having to let go with one hand. The leaf wouldn’t budge and Spencer began to panic, realizing that the road he was on ended abruptly at a massive ditch. He cursed again, reached up and deftly wiped of the leaf only to see the end of the road speeding to meet him. He screamed, punched the brake and turned a hard right all the while knowing it wouldn’t help. His speeding bike slid into a bump in the road and both Spencer and the bike were suddenly airborne. The last thing he thought as he flew off his bike was Thank God I wore my helmet! And then the world went black.

Fire and Ice

Chapter 1

Perfect.

That was the thought going through Lance Sunquencher’s head. He was being chased by an Araknos bounty hunter across the Tipocco city skyline.

            Araknos are a bipedal spiderlike sentient only found in the Arasah system. Their diamond hard shell made them the only creature capable of surviving on their home planet. Their planets ozone layer had been wiped out a millennium ago. All of the previous owners of the planet had been wiped out by the radiation of their own sun, leaving the Araknos as the planets only inhabitants. Hell only knew what they ate.

            Unfortunately for Lance, its exoskeleton made the plasma blast from his pistol absolutely worthless. Not to mention his own armor could only with stand so much of the fire coming from the plasma pistols griped in each one of the Araknos’s six claw like hands. Normally under such circumstances the best thing to do would be to double check your will and make peace with God. But Lance wasn’t ready to die just yet.

            Lance pulled out his plasma pistol and fired at one of the only weak spots in the Araknos’s exoskeleton. Its eyes. It began screaming in pain as plasma splattered across its eight eyes. Lance took a quick breather. All this for 100,000 credits. The Araknos had been acting as the body guard of some stuck up politician who had the audacity to take loans from the local crimelord to fund his election and then not pay it back. So Lance had been called in, the politician had been taken out, and the chase began.

A wooshing sound brought Lance back to his sences. He leapt back instinctively. A scraping noise made him swear. The Araknos’s claws had gouged nine holes in his armor.

“ Hey !! I just had this thing buffed last week!” Lance yelled as he raised his plasma pistol.

The Araknos reacted instantaneously. Its claws lashed out and knocked the plasma pistol right out of Lance’s hand. Lance reeled back in shock from the blow. 

Idiot. The Araknos were the only species in the entire galaxy with a spacial awarenes . They didn’t need their eyes to know where you were and what you were doing. Lance had let himself be caught off guard.

He struggled back to his feet. The Araknos’s ruined eyes were fixed upon him. It rushed at him, but this time Lance was expecting him. The Araknos’s exoskeleton made it practically indestructible. However, it had one more weakness. The joints of the older members of its species became more brittle than a sun baked Aquaneid(an alien that must always remain in water and away from sunlight do to its extraordinary reaction to even the slightest amounts UV rays) due to the large amount of radiation they experience in the course of their lifetime.

Praying that his assailant was past his prime Lance brought down his fist on the top shoulder, snapping all three of its left arms off. It slashed viciously at Lance with its three remaining arms, but Lance ducked underneath the blow and rolled straight to his plasma pistol.

He leveled his weapon and fired three shots into the hole where the Araknos’s middle left arm used to be. Lance could only imagine the creature’s pain as its internal organs burned up. Finally the fire burned out of it eye sockets. It remained frozen on its feet for a second be for it crashed to the ground, a lifeless smoldering husk

Lance let out a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon. He activated the relay system. Static filled the helmet for a few seconds before it cleared and a woman’s voice said. “You’re still alive. When you said an Araknos was on your tail I began to compose your eulogy.”

“Thanks for your confidence in me.” Said Lance irritably.

“Are you sure you don’t want to hear it? I became rather poetic at the end.” The woman’s voice spoke again.

“ No just get the ship down to my location ASAP.”

“ Righteeo. Mar-Cii out.”

Static filled the helmet again. He shut of the relay system. Then for the first time in 30 minutes he relaxed. He could hear the sound of the hover cars flying past him a thousand feet above ground.

“ THERE’S THE ASSASIN! SHOOT HIM!” a voice shouted from the side.

This just wasn’t his day. First the Araknos and now Peace Keepers. They were the police force of the CIPMDAA, the Confederacy of Independent Planets for the Mutual Defense Against Annexation. It was a political organization that cropped up a hundred and fifty years ago when the Humans and Anoconduan empires began to have a border war and the little planets were afraid of being swallowed up by the two giants.

A plasma bolt streaked by Lance’s head. He raised his plasma pistol and fired four shots. Three of the Peace Keepers fell but the last bolt splashed against an invisible barrier and dispersed.

“Shit”, Lance thought. Energy shields. They were a fairly new technology that had yet to work out all of the kinks. But that did not take away from the usefulness. That’s why Lance had had them installed into his armor.

He activated his energy shield. They came up for and instant the sputtered and disappeared right as a plasma bolt slammed into Lance’s left shoulder. The armor which had already taken a beating from the Araknos’s plasma bolts melted and burned his shoulder.

The energy shields must have damaged by the slashes from the Araknos Lance thought as pain ripped through his senses. It was ironic. Even though it had died the Araknos had still managed with that one blow to seal Lance’s fate. 

Lance hit the ground and looked angrily at the still smoking shell. What did it care about delicate wiring and energy shields. With its indestructible exoskeleton it was immune to plasma bolts, but there was no cover for him on this blasted roof top.

Wait a minute. The exoskeleton! Lance thought in a flash of inspiration. He rolled over to the lifeless shell and heaved it up in front him. Plasma bolts impacted uselessly against the corpse. Lance began returning fire, trying to overload their shields.  He was far from safe however. One of the more intelligent Peace Keepers decided to stop trying to go through his defense and just go around it.

Lance only just noticed him in time. He readjusted himself behind the carcass and began firing dozens of shots at the aliens head. The shielding around the head began to glow red. Then with a terrible wine it gave out and the head disappeared in blast of red plasma. The corpse fell to the ground with the base of the neck still glowing red-hot.

The Peace Keepers had Lance in a pickle and they knew it. Their energy shields protected them from all directions. All Lance could do was huddle behind the dead Araknos and pray they didn’t try to flank him.

Maybe Mar-Cii will get to use that eulogy after all? Lance thought as the Peace Keepers began to move to his left and right.

Just then a roaring sound filled the air. Lance looked up their was his ship the Nova Wolf. Red streaks of light exploded from its twin plasma turrets. Explosions ripped through the night The Peace Keepers were engulfed in hot plasma. Lance could see their silluoets for an instant until their energy shields gave out and they vanished in the intense heat.

“Keeping things under control I see.” Mar-Cii said though the relay system in Lance’s helmet.

“Shut up.” Lance said as he activated the rocket thrusters in his boots. He launched through the air strait into the cargo hold of the Nova Wolf. “Just get us out of here!”

Lance tossed aside the Araknos carcass as he exited the cargo hold. He struggled down the passage to the cockpit. Standing there was the holographic image of pretty young woman with red hair and wearing a white jump suit.

“I don’t suppose you could take better care of your equipment.” Mar-Cii said looking at the melted shoulder pad and slashed chest piece. “After all I’m the one who has to set the maintenance robot to fix it and buff it.”

“Never mind that just get us out of this system!” shouted Lance.

A shimmer went through Mar-Cii’s holographic body as she calculated. “Alright we should be exiting the gravitational field … now.”

Lance felt his feet leave the floor and he went floating up and hit his head on the ceiling. “TURN ON THE A-GRAV UNIT DAMN IT!”

“Sorry.” Mar-Cii said wincing. Another shimmer swept through her body as the room resumed a one gee environment. Lance landed far more gracefully than his ascension had been. He hopped into the pilot’s chair. He had just managed to strap in when an explosion rocked the ship.

“ There is a 99% chance that hostile ships are in hot pursuit.” Mar-Cii said in a matter of fact tone.

“You think!” said Lance irritably. “Just give me control and a picture of what I’m dealing with.”

Mar-Cii stepped aside and a 3D display of the space battle. His ship, the Nova Wolf, was being chased by two Arbiter class fighters. Lance let out a sigh of relief. The explosion had convinced him he was in some danger. The voice of the pilots of the Arbiter fighters came in through the speakers.

“Unidentified ship. You are here by ordered to return to us to the surface Where you and any passengers will be charged with Espionage, First degree murder, Disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, assaulting a Peace Keeper, seven accounts of slaying a Peace Keeper, and destruction of public and private property. You have the right to a counselor. You have the right to remain si…”

At this point Lance had gotten tired of the monologue and shifted the Nova Wolf into a vertical position and went full reverse. He slipped between the two fighters. He quickly snaped back into the right position and began firing on the left ship. The two fighters split up and Lance continued to pound the rear shields of the ship with his plasma turrets.

After a few more seconds of that barrage the energy shield gave way and completely disappeared. A plasma bolt hit its engine causing it to explode.

Lance turned out of the way of the inferno. After that he brought the Nova Wolf around to face the remaining Arbiter fighter. It had also turned around and was firing at Lance. “Mar-Cii” he said “divert energy from rear shields to the front shields and prepare to fire the rear emergency thrusters on my order.”  While Lance said this he also punched in the code to unlock the colligun.

Mar-Cii noticed this and a shimmer of comprehension and apprehension rippled through her holographic frame. “Alright but just know your crazy

Lance accelerated strait towards the remaining fighter. It must have believed that Lance was playing chicken for it also began to increase its speed. All the while it continued to pound the Nova wolf’s shields with its plasma turrets. Several warning signs came up on the screen. Lance ignored them.

“For your information” Mar-Cii said conversationally “that under current speeds and rate of fire we have eleven seconds until our shields fail and ten seconds until collision.”

“Nice to know.” Said Lance as the fighter filled his view screen

“Five and four seconds now.”

“Just shut up and fire the thrusters… NOW!”

The rear thrusters quickly fired up. The back of the Nova Wolf shot up. It went up and above the Arbiter class fighter, and more importantly perfectly aligned it with the Nova Wolf’s colligun

There was an instant when Lance could see the astonished look on the aliens face as it stared up at him in complete shock. Lance gave a smile which he could not see and waved goodbye. He then fired the colligun. The effect was perfect. The slug quickly overloaded the fighter’s shields and ripped the ship apart.

Lance watched the fragments and frozen air to drift for a few seconds before saying “Alright Mar-Cii we need to drop into sub space. Set the coordinates for Sol.

“Righteeo. And you had better get yourself to the sick bay. In the condition you’re in I’m surprised you were even able to fly this bucket let alone pull off flashy suicidal maneuvers.” Mar-Cii responded in the condescending tone she often employed.

“You’re pretty mouthy for an AI.” Lance pointed out.

“Blame my programmer not me.” Mar-Cii said defensively. “Which if my memory banks serve me was you.

“Shut up.” Muttered Lance

Poems

Slippery Slope

I’m singing the same song again

It’s not my fault but I re-begin

Intro now, chorus, refrain

Rise above where I’d once lain

This song’s a sad one, it always is

I wipe eyes dry, relive that kiss

Hold on because there’s nothing else

Descend into my own personal hells

Can I sever the line to the anchor I love?

The surface gets higher and higher above

The dark is hard and metal and cold

It reeks of despair with a hint of mold

Just I am here with the corpses of hope

The path to the bottom’s a slippery slope.

Dreaming

My eyes now dry my head held high

I’m lost inside an amber sky

I need no one that is my vow

I tread the clouds and take my bow

Please think of me is my last line

My voice fades and I take what’s mine

The clouds turn back to sultry gray

And leave me to do what I may

I wipe sleep off my weary mind

My eyes not dry my head not high.

Deserted Sand (Sonnet)

Barren and dry and arid, desolate

Lonely it seems but we’re all ensnared here

Quietly we speak all tugging Fate’s ear

Chasing the shadows, my own silhouette

There are no trees here, only mounds of sand

That keep ticking, always ticking away

They never cease and they cannot delay

As silence keens mournfully from Nowhere

Remember the time we all had time?

To squander is to lose the game called Life.

Old that I'm not continuing

NOAH TRAVIT AND THE WRATH OF THE DANE

   “Kip. Kipper? Where are you Kip?” A lone voice calls above the usual forest din. “Kip! Come on!” Noah Travit, eldest son of Ted and Jane Travit saunters through the undergrowth and scarcely takes notice as his dark, unkempt hair is ensnared by some of the various forest branches he treks under. “Kipper, if you don’t come out right now--”

   His false threat is cut short as he spots a flash of red. He spins around so fast that any twigs that were caught in his hair were flung from his head. There standing behind him is Kacy Dobbs.

   “Hello,” she says to him as if it was perfectly normal for her to be standing alone in the middle of a forest near dusk.

   Kacy Dobbs is a very strange girl. By far the oddest girl Noah had ever met or possibly ever will. He eyes her warily and says “Have you seen Kipper?” As he says this, he can’t help but notice her odd appearance. As many of the towns people would say, Kacy has her own “style”, and standing 20 feet from her, this proves to be right. Her apparel of the day includes a multi-colored Hello Kitty T-Shirt, homemade CAPRIS (you could tell they were homemade because the right leg was two inches shorter than the left), a bright pink blazer that clashed magnificently with her bright red hair, and lime green rain boots to match her large eyes, which at the moment were narrowed accusingly at the boy in front of her.

   “You are Noah?”

   “Er… Yes.”

   “You seek your fish?”

   “What?” He casts her a thoroughly bewildered look. “Oh!” He says hurriedly.

   “No, Kipper is my brother’s name. I can’t find him.”

   “Your brother is a fish?” She snorts. “How funny.”

    Perplexed he replies “No, my brother is a human with the name Kipper.”

   “Oh. How thoughtful of your parents.”

   Noah rolls his eyes. “So you haven‘t seen him?”

   “No.”

   “Okay. Well… um thanks anyways.” He makes a move as to leave.

   “If I were you, I’d check the creek.” She says evenly. “Fish tend to like it there.”

   “Uh… okay?”

   Noah hastily turns away. It’s getting dark and he still hasn’t found Kip. He decides on a whim to go by the creek. Just in case. He starts running and stops short as he approaches the creek and sees none other than Kipper Travit.

   “Kip! I’ve been yelling for you for the past hour, where‘ve you been?”

   “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.” He answers sheepishly.

   Kip looks up quizzically into his older brother’s face, “How did you know I was here anyways?”

   Noah mumbles something to do with fish and Kip looks amused.

   “You saw Kacy, didn’t you?”

   “Yeah. Why?”

   “I saw her earlier and she said “Happy fishing, Fish-Boy”. It was quite funny actually, considering there wasn’t any fish there.”

   “Where were you?”

   “The old mill.”

   They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

   “Well I asked her if she saw you, and she said no.”

   “Well I can’t imagine why she‘d say that.”

   “What does it matter? We all know she’s crazy anyway.” He looks around and shivers, “Let’s go home.”

   As they walked away, Noah couldn’t help but notice Kip had a certain reluctance to leave, but he merely cast it aside as his imagination. This was the first of his many large mistakes of his life.

No Title Yet.

Chapter 1 Cracked

Beep beep beep beep. “Ungh…” Laila mumbled as she groped for the snooze button. Beep beep beep. “Where is that stupid alarm clock?!” Her fingers fumbled and knocked over a picture of her and her brother. “Aha!” Beep bee… Laila Campbell sighed. Why do I always wake up at the best part of the dream? She thought as she picked up the picture frame and replaced it on her desk.

Haha! You were dreaming about that actor guy again. Her twin brother Laramie thought back. Laila and her brother had always been… different. Their minds were connected somehow, allowing them to communicate by thoughts. At first, they dismissed it as a twin thing, but eventually they found that, out of the five sets of twins at their school, they were the only ones like this.

So what if I was? He’s hot! Laila shot back.

He’s lame! You should have better taste, Sis. What is his name again?

Fletcher. Fletcher Wayne.

Like I said. Lame.

Laila ignored him. He’s turning 17 today.

And we are tomorrow. Laramie reminded her.

Me first of course.

“Haha!” Laila could hear his deep laugh from across the hall.

By three minutes Lie.

Whatever. Don’t peek at my dreams.

She slid off her bed and went to her closet then slipped on her favorite pair of designer jeans and a yellow off-shoulder sweater. She walked over to her full-length mirror and let out a small sigh. She had the kind of body girls spent hours in the gym for, without even trying, and a face that could make you stop and stare, not to mention perfect golden curls just past her shoulder blades. Her beauty set her apart from other girls, and even her twin was sexy male model material with sandy blond hair, a killer body, and the same big blue eyes.

Laila yawned and put her backpack on, grabbed the keys to her brand new silver sports car (versus her brother’s, also brand new, black sports car) and tromped downstairs to her breakfast.

“Hey honey! I hope you don’t mind cereal again today because I have another early meeting this morning.” Laila’s mother chirped as she entered the kitchen.

“Wasn’t expecting that.” Laila muttered sarcastically.

“Sorry what?” Her mother looked up.

“No problem, Mom.” She mumbled. “See you later.” Laila opened the pantry to look for some Chocolate Puff Cereal. She was a sucker for anything chocolate.

“Oh.” Her mother stopped and peered around her at the TV playing in the living room. “Isn’t that your actor friend?” Laila ran straight into the other room and turned up the volume, a big picture of the star filled the screen.

“Award winning actor Fletcher Wayne turned seventeen today, but in a strange turn of events quit his current production after allegedly walking several times face first into walls. His co-star Bethany Mills tells us that after he announced his resignation, she went to his trailer to try to talk some sense into him but he was packing all of his things and acting slightly disheveled and distracted. Many suspect drugs but family and friends say this is highly unlikely. We’ll give you an update as more information comes in.”

“Wow, so he finally cracked”

“Oh!” Laila started. She hadn’t even realized her mouth was hanging open and the remote control had fallen to the floor.

“You okay?” Laramie asked concerned.

“Yeah. It’s just so weird…”

 “Well I’m sorry about your “boyfriend”, but we’d better go or we’ll be late… Again.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Her brother thought a picture of her lying in bed asleep with her mouth wide open and the alarm clock saying 8:25 AM. Five minutes before school began.

He grinned. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Chapter 2 Imaginary Numbers

            When they got to RPS (Randall Private School also widely known as Rich People School), the second bell was ringing and only a few stragglers were left on the front lawn. Laila let Laramie out in front of the science building then parked in the east lot and ran to her American Literature class. Everyone was already there and the bell rang right as she sat down. Her teacher Mrs. Young, who was anything but,  looked up with her beady eyes and frowned disapprovingly. Laila worked up an apologetic smile and her teacher turned her attention to the rest of the class.

            “Please turn to page eighty-three in your textbooks. Read the chapter and answer the questions. When you finish, read your own books silently until the end of the period.” A collective groan went up around the room and Laila could have sworn she saw Mrs. Young smirk.

            Her next three classes went pretty much the same way, and by lunchtime, Laila was sick of bookwork.

            Hey Lie! Laila heard Laramie think.

            Hey. What’s for lunch?  She thought back.

            Macaroni, he laughed, I know how much you love that stuff.

            Ugh. She wrinkled her nose.

            Sure enough when she entered the cafeteria, the sickening smell of cheesy noodles surrounded her like a noxious orange cloud. Without a second thought, she headed straight to the salad bar.

            After placing the olive tong back into the bin, she walked to her normal table with Jasmine, Nicole and Amber already eating (macaroni, ugh).

            “Hey girl! Happy almost birthday! Since it’s Friday and you dorks aren’t throwing a party, I’m telling you now.” Jasmine smiled playfully.

            “It’s alright. Thanks.” Out of the three other girls, Jasmine had always been the most genuine. Laila had always had a suspicion Nicole and Amber just hung out with her to get close to her “hot” brother. She never called them out on it though because when they inevitably left her, she would seem even more set apart than the rest of her high school population. As it was, she had so few friends because she was thought of as “untouchable.” Beautiful, popular, and smart, but with few close friends.

            “Speaking of birthdays,” Amber’s voice brought Laila back to the present, “Did you guys see that news segment on Fletcher Wayne?”

            “Oh my gosh, yes! Walking into walls? He must be on something good!” Nicole giggled.

            “I wish he would have at least finished that movie. There was supposed to be a scene of him shirtless!” Jasmine gushed.

            “Laila? Are you okay?” Nicole looked at her curiously. Laila had gotten quiet again and was staring at nothing.

“What? Oh. Sorry.”

“What’s up?” Jasmine’s look of concern mirrored that of her brother’s that morning.

“Nothing. Just tired I guess.” She faked a yawn.

Jasmine didn’t look like she believed her, but after a few seconds she joined Amber and Nicole’s comparisons between lip-gloss brands.

After lunch, Laila had art, her favorite class of the day and today they were working on pottery. She wet her fingers and turned on the wheel. The clay felt so good under her fingers. She loved the slimy texture and the earthy smell. She breathed it deeply. Nothing calmed her better than art. She let her mind wander. She found Laramie; he was working on a complicated math problem and his thoughts had a slightly strained tint, but as soon as he felt Laila, he became relaxed and playful.

Hey sis What’s going on?

Just working on my pottery. She showed him her still misshapen lump of clay through her eyes. She laughed. I just started.

I can see that. He laughed too. We’re doing imaginary numbers today.

I never understood why anyone would ever come up with such a stupid concept. Laila thought.

Tell that to Mrs. Canton. She acts as if this stuff is the best thing since Ramen Noodles!

Ramen Noodles? Laila giggled aloud and a few students looked up at her inquisitively.

It’s the best thing I could come up with! He began working on his worksheet again and his thoughts became jumbled with mathematical nonsense.

Laila mentally wrinkled her nose and thought, I’m outta here!

Laramie paused. Alright. Later, Sis. Your vase turned out nice by the way.

Laila smiled and looked down. She hadn’t even decided on a vase, but sitting before her on the now still pottery wheel was an attractive, simple vase.

Chapter 3 Nightmare

            When Laila got home after school, she was alone. Laramie had stayed to shoot some hoops with some of his friends and had said he would catch a ride from one of them, and her parents were still at work. She rarely had the house to herself, so she decided to have a girly day. Laila smiled. She hadn’t had a g-day since last summer when Laramie was at church camp and her mother and father were, well, at work.

            Laila went up to her bedroom and straight into her closet. She looked up. On the top shelf sat what she was looking for: a big shoebox, the one her authentic leather boots came in, and it was where she kept all she needed for a day like this. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled it down.

            The box was a little dusty and when she pulled the lid off, she wasn’t surprised the inventory was not much depleted. Inside were five different colored nail polishes, a nail kit, three rather old looking facemasks, several eye shadow compacts, a green eyeliner crayon, a bottle of bubble bath, and a plastic bag full of hair decorations. She set the cache on her bed and chewed her lip thoughtfully.

            I’m in the mood for a bubble bath. She smiled and pulled her hair up into a messy bun, securing the loose strands with bobby pins. Laila grabbed the bottle of bubble bath out of the shoebox and started for the door then stopped, glanced back at the box, walked back and grabbed a facemask and walked through the hall then into the bathroom. She set the bubble bath and mask on the counter and locked the door behind her.

            As she was waiting for the bathtub to fill up, she peeled off her yellow sweater and favorite jeans and she grabbed the bubble bath and poured some into the stream of water. Then she picked up the facial mask and ripped off the top of the packet. She squirted some of the gelatinous slop onto her fingertips. This was not what she expected.

            Oh nasty. Laila thought. She glanced at the quickly filling tub and sighed. Here goes nothing. She brought her hands to her face and shuddered as the sickly substance touched her skin. She smeared it around her eyes and mouth and then on her cheeks, chin and forehead, careful to avoid her hairline.

            Finally, it was evenly layered on her face so she rinsed the goop off her hands and turned off the bath faucet. Double-checking the door to make sure it was locked, she stripped off the rest of her clothing and stepped into the tub. She trembled with every inch that her body sunk deeper into the steamy water. The frothy bubbles came up to her chin and tickled as they popped. She was so comfortable in the hot water. Laila yawned; it had been a long day. Pretty quickly, she dozed off.

            Laila was in a grungy gray room that seemed to have no walls. What the heck? She thought. The room was completely empty everywhere she turned. No furniture and no people. Wait, what was that? She spun around and there was Jasmine, Amber, and Nicole sitting at a table that had definitely not been there before. They were talking in whispers so Laila could only catch a few words of what they were saying.

“Laila… can’t know… would freak… overprotective.” Jasmine was saying.

“What? What are you guys talking about?” Laila demanded. No one looked at her. “Hello?!” She shouted.

“Hi guys.” A familiar voice rang out from behind her.

“Oh thank God, Laramie, you’re here.” She turned to him but he just walked past her and straight into Jasmine’s waiting arms.

“Hey Baby.” He grinned.

 “Hi Sexy.” Jasmine leaned in and covered his mouth with hers and he responded intently.

“What?! No!” Laila shrieked and suddenly they disappeared and were replaced by Mrs. Young.

“Today we will be studying imaginary numbers.” Abruptly, several, very solid numbers appeared out of thin air and began to beat her from all directions as if to prove their solidity.

“Ow! Help me!” Laila looked frantically at the teacher, but Mrs. Young just smirked and stayed put. Laila put her hands up to shield her face and ran blindly trying to escape the rampaging numbers but she ran hard into a wall. She turned and dashed the opposite direction but also ran face first into an invisible barrier. Hysterical by now, she ran into yet another obstruction. She fell to the ground and curled up into a tight ball. All at once, the beating ceased. She looked up cautiously and discovered the numbers were gone, but in their place, not five yards away was Fletcher Wayne. Her heart fluttered and she hastily wiped some of her escaped tears from her face. “Fletcher, I…”

“Laila.” He stopped her.

“Yes?” She breathed, surprised he knew her name. He sneered two words:

“You’ve cracked.”

“NOOOOOOO!!!” Laila screamed.

            “Laila! Laila!” Someone was banging on the bathroom door. Laila jerked and opened her eyes. “Oh! Oh. Crap. Crap, Crap!” While she slept, the mask must have slowly dripped down her face because when she opened her eyes, the repulsive liquid stung them like crazy. “Ow. Ow. Ow!” She scrambled out of the now lukewarm water and grabbed blindly for the hand towel.

            “Laila? Are you okay? You were screaming.” Laramie’s concerned voice drifted through the door. “I’m fine. I just got some stuff in my eyes.” She found the towel and scrubbed her face furiously.

            “That’s why you screamed?” Laramie sounded confused.

            “No, I had a nightmare.”

            “In the bathroom?! Laila what’s going on?”

            “I fell asleep taking a bubble bath, okay?” It came out a little harsher than she’d intended, she still had the nightmare fresh in her mind. “I’m sorry Lare. I’m still just a little freaked.”

            “Care to share?” Laila knew what he meant. He wanted her to rethink the dream to him. She shuddered. “No that’s okay. I’d rather not relive it.”

            “Okay. You’re sure you’re alright?”

            “Yes. Thank you.” She rubbed the last of the goop out of her still stinging eyes and wrapped herself in a towel. She let the dirty water out of the tub and grabbed her mask wrapper, bubble bath and dirty clothes and went back to her room. 

After she put on her pajamas, she took out the remaining two masks and threw them away. Then she put the bubble bath back in the shoebox and re-stashed it on the top shelf in her closet. Laila glanced at her clock. It was still early, but she decided to go to sleep anyway.

            Good night, Laramie.

            Sweet dreams, Sis. She smiled and fell into a (thankfully) dreamless sleep.

Chapter 4 Surprise

            Laila woke up to the smell of bacon. She rolled out of bed and put on her favorite pair of fuzzy blue slippers. Breathing in a big lungful of the delicious smell, she ambled downstairs into the kitchen. Laramie was already sitting with a big plate of bacon and eggs in front of him.

            “Morning Lay.” He smiled. “Happy birthday.”

            “Oh my gosh!” She gasped.

            He raised an eyebrow at her. “You didn’t forget did you?”

            “Uh… No.” She hastily tried to cover her accidental divulgence.

            He didn’t fall for it. Having linked thoughts had its drawbacks. “You dork. How do you forget your own birthday?”

            “I don’t know.” She walked to the stove and fixed herself a plate of eggs and bacon quite a bit smaller than that of her brother’s. She sat down next to him and looked around.

            “Where are Mom and Dad?”

            Laramie frowned. “Where do you think?”

            Laila’s heart sank. “Work? But it’s our birthday and it’s Saturday!”

            “I know Lay. I know.” He hugged her. “I told them you’d be upset but nothing I said could make a dent in their plans.”

            Laila pushed away her plate. Suddenly she lost her appetite. “It’s like they don’t even care about us anymore.” Angry tears filled her eyes. She wiped at them. She hated letting Laramie see her cry. It was bad enough he could feel her pain through their connection. With much effort, she plastered an indifferent smile on her face. “Oh well. It’s not a big deal. I think I’m going to go to the mall and wind down, so I’m going to go get ready. Want to come?” What she really needed was some alone time to think, but she didn’t mind if he wanted to come.

            “No. I’ll let you have a little alone time.”

            “Okay. Thanks Lare.” She meant more than just for letting her be alone and she hoped he knew that. She started walking to the stairs and then stopped and turned back to him. “Oh. And Lare?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Happy Birthday.” And with that, she disappeared up the stairs.

            When laila got to the mall, there just so happened to be an open parking spot close to the mall entrance so she pulled in. She grabbed her red leather bag and clicked the lock button on the key to her sports car. It issued a girly, high-pitched beep and she started to the awning coved door to the mall. Seeing as how she lived in Beverly Hills, the mall she was at was pretty fair sized and there were two levels. She decided it would take about two laps around to get ger thoughts in order.

            It had really upset her today that her parents had chosen work over her and Laramie… Again. The last time they missed something important had been Laila’s piano recital, before that had been Laramie’s state championship soccer game and there were countless others: last year’s prom, their academic awards banquet, their eighth grade graduation, their first day of middle school, and even their parents day in elementary school.

            Laramie had always tried his best to support Laila as best as he could for all three of them and had even tried to block the door one time to keep their parents from leaving. Of course, their father had thrown out the whole “If you don’t let us go to work, how will we feed you?” argument, and although totally absurd, it had worked and Laramie never tried that again.

            Over time, Laila and Laramie had learned to not even bother inviting their parents to anything; their absence had become a part of daily life. The one constant in her life had been their birthday, a day set aside by their parents to put on their “big happy family” façade, but even that had been cruelly ripped away. Her one thread of hope had been that one day they would be proud of her or even just take a little time to try to get to know the young lady she’d become.

            Laila’s face got hot with emotion and she glanced up at her surrounding. She was on the second floor next to a brightly colored pet shop. Automatically, she went from feeling miserable to excited. She walked up to the window and looked at all the cute puppies playing with each other. They all looked up at her and crowded toward the window with their tails working overtime.

            Toward the back, an extra small, pure black fluffy puppy was darting back and forth trying to find a path through the bevy of canines. The small dog jumped up on the back of one of the others and tried to steady itself just as the pup it was on shook it off and it disappeared into the mob. Laila giggled and it reappeared in the rear of the enclosure.

            Laila walked around the display and in through the door.

            “Hi. How can I help you?” The voice came from a boy about her age with wild red hair and a long pale face full of freckles.

            “Uh… Yeah. Could I see the little black puppy in the display?” The boy squinted at her then smiled a goofy grin.

            “Oh! You mean Corn.”

            Laila gave him a strange look and said, “No. I mean the puppy.” The boy walked over, opened the enclosure and with what looked like much difficulty extracted the tiny dog.

            “Yep. This is Corn, but Corn is just short for her full name.” He set the wriggling ball of fur in her arms.

            “And what’s that?”

            “Ah that would be Miss Cornelia Fancy Pants.” Laila gaped at him. The red haired boy began to look a little uncomfortable and when Laila kept staring he broke the awkward silence.

            “Well this pet shop gets a lot of animals and sometimes we have to be very… creative with the names.”

            “Yeah, I can see that.” After a few more uncomfortable seconds the boy spoke again.

            “So… do you want her? Corn?” he asked hesitantly. Laila looked down at the miniature ball of fur in her arms and Corn looked back with soulful pleading eyes. Laila knew her parents wouldn’t care, they never did. And money was not an issue, she had unlimited access to her family’s considerable fortune. She looked back up at the red haired boy and grinned.

            “Yeah.” She looked back at the pen of puppies and pointed to a large white pup and said, “I’ll take that one, too.” She needed a birthday present for Laramie after all.

Chapter 5 Surprise

            On the way to her car, Laila had a heck of a time juggling two puppy carriers with wiggly puppies inside and a bag full of toys, food, hygiene care tools, food bowls, collars, leashes and breed type manuals, all of which the boy had convinced her was all necessary for your first dog. She scowled. He was probably back there laughing maniacly at his luck. He’d no doubt get a payraise. Each dog was around four hundred dollars, and all accessories included, the total was just short of one grand. Laila was thankful for her close parking spot now, and as she reached her car she set down both carriers and the bag full of merchandise. She dug her keys out of her red leather purse and unlocked the doors and trunk. She stuck the dogs in the back seat, Corn first, then the white puppy she’d found was named Jake, and put all the doggy gear in the trunk.

            Laila looked around and saw that strangely, no one was in the parking lot. That was strange in itself, but with only one week of school left, it should have been full of teenagers stocking up on summer neccessities. Laila shrugged and as she shut the trunk, a wave of unbearable pain suddenly washed through her body. The pain was so intense, her knees crumpled beneath her and she instinctively curled up in the fetal position. With her perfectly manicured fingernails scratching the damp parking lot concrete, Laila opened her mouth to scream but only a whisper of sound escaped her lips. Just when she closed her eyes and prepared to meet death, the pain was gone. All except a small lingering headache.

            When she could work up enough strength to stand, Laila took hold of her car and rose shakily to her feet. Laila quickly found her brother’s thoughts.

            Laramie, something just happened.

            I know, Lay. I felt it too. Laila felt something out of place in his thoughts, something he was trying to hide.

            What are you hiding, Lare?

            He ignored her question. Are you okay to drive?

            Um… Yeah. I think so. She already felt a lot better.

            Okay, Laramie thought back. Come home, but be careful.

            Alright. I’ll be there soon. She walked slowly around to the driver’s door and climbed in. What could Laramie be trying to keep from her? They always told each other everything; it was almost impossible to conceal anything from each other and they had just stopped trying to after a while. Laila started her car. The drive home seemed to take an unusally long time. When she pulled into her driveway, she took out the dogs and supplies and lugged them up to her room, setting the supplies in her closet and the dogs shut in her bathroom. As she walked out of her bathroom, Laila glanced over and noticed her alarm clock was blinking 12:00 so she took out her iphone which read 6:47 PM and set her clock accordingly. Laila realized with a grin she still wouldn’t be officially 17 until 10:10 PM so she still had a while to wait.

            Laila, are you home?

            Yeah, I’m in my room.

            Come to the backyard!  I need you.

            Are you okay? Are you hurt? She ran out of her room and flew down the stairs to the heavy double doors that led to where her brother was. She grasped the door knob and opened the door.

            “SURPRISE!”

            Laila jumped and nearly toppled over but she caught herself just in time. She looked up at all the people around her and saw Amber, Nicole, Jasmine and some guys she knew through Laramie as Chet, Ryan, and Cooper, all smiling at her expectantly. She looked down at the table between them and saw a cake that read “Happy Birthday Laila and Laramie”.  She smiled what probably looked like an excited smile but was really one of relief. Laramie wasn’t in trouble and he wasn’t hiding anything serious, just a surprise party!

            “Wow, guys! This is great! Thank you so much.”

            “It was your brother’s idea.” Nicole smiled a suggestive smile at him that he ignored expertly.

            “So what’s on the agenda, little brother?” Laila teased.

            “Well right now we’re gonna sing to you and then eat cake!” He laughed and on cue everyone began to sing a rather off-key version of Happy Birthday, making sure to sing both Laila and Laramie’s name at the appropriate part.

            After they ate the cake, all of it thanks to Chet and Cooper, they settled down in the small den and turned on the new X-Men movie. No one really paid attention to the movie though because they were too busy talking. Throughout the night, Laila paid very close attention to the way Laramie and Jasmine acted toward eachother. Thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary was exchanged. In fact, Jasmine seemed very interested in Ryan. Laila had to admit he was rather attractive, though she thought it was probably due to his nose which was very similar to that of Fletcher Wayne’s.

            Twice she had to leave the room and take medicine because of the headache that had stayed with her since her episode at the mall, but it didn’t get any better if not worse. Ryan and Jasmine went into the kitchen to make popcorn for everyone just as the movie was ending, but no one seemed to be leaving so it didn’t matter. Before long, a nasty burnt popcorn smell filled the house.

            “I guess I better go check on them.” Laramie rolled his eyes.

            Laila grimaced. “I’m going to go get some fresh air.” Truthfully, the smell was intensifying her headache tenfold. She stepped out of the double doors and walked to their very dark full sized gazebo. The only light came from the back porch a fifty yards away.

            Her iPhone vibrated in her back pocket and she took it out. It was an email from her mother:

            Hello Laila. Happy Birthday. I’m sorry we couldn’t celebrate. By the way, your father and I will be out of town until Tuesday. Call only if it’s very important.  <Trish Campbell>

            She exited out of the browser and in big numbers across the screen it read 10:09 PM.

            Hmm… I’m almost seventeen. I wish my headache would go away at least. Just as suddenly as at the mall, pain wracked her body leaving nothing untouched. Even her teeth ached as if her gums were being sliced with a scalpel. She breathed in shallow gasps, the sharp air grating her lungs. Another wave of pain and her knees crumpled under her. She thought with enough urgency as she could muster, Laramie! HELP!, and as she began to lose conciousness, she saw her phone, which had fallen to the ground. It said darkly: 10:10 PM.

            Someone was shaking her. Laila groaned as she sat up. Most of the pain was gone but her body still felt the phantasms of the horrible feeling. She slowly opened her eyes. It was the middle of the day!

            “Laila what happened?” Laramie asked from behind her.

            “Lare! How long was I out?”

            “About two minutes.” Laila looked at her phone uncomprehendingly. It read 10:12 PM.

            “Well how did it get so bright outside?”

            “It’s pitch black!” Came his worried reply. She finally turned to look at him.

            “Oh my God!” He scrambled away from her. He looked frightened.

            “What? What’s wrong?” She looked down at her body for any sign of blood.

            “Your eyes!” She picked up her phone and looked at her reflection. She let out a tiny shriek. In her reflection all she could see were two literally glowing green eyes. “But I have blue eyes…” She trailed off dumbly and the clock changed to 10:13 PM and Laramie fell, writhing, to the ground, but he didn’t black out, instead his skin began to emit a glow which grew brighter and quickly became too much for Laila’s newly sensitive eyes too bear so she had too shut them and cover them with a hand.

            “Laramie what’s going on?”

            “I don’t know!” He gasped. “Laila, listen to me. You need to go inside and get everyone to go home”

            “But Lare-” She was cut off.

            “I’ll be fine. I don’t hurt anymore.” He said. Laila stopped short and realized that was true. She didn’t hurt at all either except when ray’s of Laramie’s light penetrated her hand and got in her eyes.

            “Me neither except your light kinda hurt’s my eyes.” Instantly his glow went out. She knew this becasuse the warmth it had emitted had disappated and suddenly she was cold. She cautiously removed her hand from her still very green eyes and stared at her twin.

            “How…?” She whispered. He glanced down at himself and looked at her with huge blue eyes.

            “I don’t know.” He murmured again.

            Someone opened one of the back doors and a rectangle of light spilled across the ground.

            “Laila. Laramie. What are you guys doing?” Amber’s soprano voice drifted to them.

“Um. Nothing.” Laramie called back. “Look Laila, new plan. I’ll go in and get them to leave. You go around the front and put some sunglasses on to cover your eyes.” He started for the door and turned back to her. “We’ll figure this out Lay. I promise.”

Chapter 6 An Unexpected Offer

She watched as her brother disappeared into her house and she took off around the side and snuck in the front door. Luckily, the lights were off so she could see perfectly as she took the stairs by twos. At the top of the stairs she slowed down and went to her room. She walked to her dresser and grabbed her designer sunglasses with her back to her full length mirror. She took a big breath and slowly turned to face herself. As she caught sight of herself, she took a step back and bumped into her dresser. She gasped. Unlike the reflection in her cell phone, now she could see her whole face. But it wasn’t her, it couldn’t be. The glowing green eyes had changed everything. The face staring back wasn’t the pure beautiful visage of Laila Campbell, no this face was something different. Although still gorgeous, this face was dark and unfathomable, even dangerous in it’s obscurity and it scared her. She jammed her sunglasses onto her face and although it didn’t darken her vision at all, it hid the glow of her eyes fairly well. When one last glance at the mirror didn’t reveal anything new, she walked down the stairsand helped Laramie usher out their friends.

“Bye guys! Thanks for coming. I had a great time!” Laila plastered on a smile. As soon as the last person was out the door Laila collapsed on their couch.

“This is too weird! Why is this happening to us? What is this?” Laila looked at Laramie, his brow was furrowed and he looked very concentrated.

“Lare?” He looked up at her slowly.

“What if…” He hesitated. “What if this has something to do with this?” He tapped his head and thought to her. We’ve always  known this wasn’t normal. Maybe there was more to it we never knew about.

Suddenly there was a light rap on their front door. She tore her thoughts from his. “I’ll get it.” Laila told him. “Amber probably forgot something as usual.” Laila opened the door and froze. It wasn’t Amber, instead standing in their doorway was a woman with startlingly white hair and deep purple eyes that were now trained on her. “Hello. You must be Laila.” She pronouced it Lay-la and Laila was quick to correct her.

“Um. Laila actually. LIE-LA.”

“Ah. Laila. My apologies.” She took her hand and shook it warmly. Laramie walked up behind her, puzzled.

“And you’re Laramie.” It was Laramie’s turn to shake her hand. The mysterious woman looked past them into their manor.

“May I come in?”

Laila glanced uncertainly at Laramie and he shrugged. “Sure.” The woman stepped gracefully over the threshold and Laramie led them to the smaller of their two family rooms. Laila had no idea who this weird-eyed stranger was or what she wanted but she decided to play hostess anyway for the time being. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea… Wine?” Laila asked.

“No thank you. I think we should just get down to business.”

Once again Laila looked up at Laramie for help and Laramie spoke up.

“Um… Excuse me but, who are you?”

The woman’s purple eyes widened and she threw her olive skinned hands up. “Oh my! I am so sorry. How rude of me.” She stood up and Laila got her first good look at the stranger. As before, the first things that stood out were her big purple eyes and shockingly white hair that was cut into a contemporary bob style, but as she looked longer she realized the woman had a very strange sense of fasion. She was wearing a black and silver corset over a blue peasant blouse with a florid, calf length, hankercheif skirt. Rainbow striped tights and black ballet flats completed her ensemble.

The woman’s voice interrupted Laila’s analysis and she looked up. “I am Arietta Addison, but you can call me Addie for short.” The woman beamed at them and Laila grinned uncertainly.

“Uh… Hi Addie. What—er— “business” are you talking about?”

“I am here, in light of recent events, to invite you to enroll in school at Watercourse Academy. You are each eligible to apply for a full scholarship if you wish, but that, in all probabiltity, wouldn’t be necessary for you two would it?” She winked.

“Watercourse? I’ve never heard of it. Is it nearby?” Laila asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. Addie frowned slightly.

“Well it’s not in Beverly Hills. It is the Oregon Northwest Extension in the Tyro Educational Network and I realize that’s far, but if you decide to come, we provide living quarters for you. ”

“Oh I see. It’s a boarding school.”

What do you think, Lare?

I think we need to get her out of here so we can try to figure out our little problem.

“Thank you for your time Addie, but I don’t think we’re interested in transferring schools, especially since we only have one week left at Randall Pri—” Laramie was cut off.

“That is irrelevant. Our school is year-round and you haven’t even heard about our unique student body or our gifted program yet.” Addie grinned mysteriously.

“No really, it’s okay—” Laila started.

“Laila.” Addie interupted again.

“Um… Yes?”

“Would you please remove your sunglasses?” Laila’s jaw dropped and she glanced quickly at her brother who had tensed up and was already looking back at her. What do I do? Laila didn’t even try to hide the panic in her thoughts. No doubt this woman would make a scene and Laila would be condemned as a freak.

Tell her you just had your eyes dialated.

But it’s almost eleven o’clock! Suddenly a rush of cool calmness settled in her mind and she saw Laramie’s body relax. Laila relaxed too. After all, nothing bad would happen, she was sure. Laila reached up and took off her sunglasses. Immediately she had to squint and shade her eyes from the ceiling lights. “Ah. That makes two. Limited telepathy and night vision.” Addie muttered to herself. She turned her attention once again to Laila’s confused face and spoke up. “Tell me dear, have you tried turning it off?”

“I don’t know how. Laramie turned his off but he doesn’t know how he did it.” Laila didn’t have the slightest idea why she was confiding in someone she met only five minutes before, but the calm still made her mind feel a little fuzzy and strange.

“Laramie had the green eyes, too?” Addie raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

“No he glew. Or glowed.” Laila giggled stupidly. “I don’t know how to say it.” Addie scrunched up her eyebrows and looked deep in thought.

“So that’s two for each. Hmm. Interesting. Well I’m afraid I’m running low on time, I have another last minute pick up to make in Oklahoma in two days. Lucky you three have august birthdays so if you decide to attend you can begin only a little bit behind.”

“So there are more like us?” Laramie broke in.

“Of course, Sweetheart. Many more.” Addie smiled. “Close your eyes, Laila. Let me help you.” Laila obediently closed her eyes and felt fingertips on her eyelids. Warmth similar to that emitted by Laramie’s glow seeped into Laila’s eyes from Addie’s fingertips. Soon she felt the pressure lifted and Laila opened her eyes warily. The light no longer hurt her eyes and when she looked at Laramie he looked stunned. “They’re back! They’re back to blue!” He exclaimed.

“What did you do?” Laila turned to Addie, she was more curious than scared.

“I turned it off.” She said simply. “Now I know all this must be very stressful for the both of you, but I will be needing your decision quickly. I’ll give you a few minutes to discuss and if you opt to attend Trikwon, I’ll walk you through from there.”

“Okay.” Laila and Laramie left Addie and went to their other den, still littered with popcorn. It would have been easier to just stay in the room with Addie and think to each other, but it would also have been incredibly awkward for her, the only one not included in the silent conversation.

As soon as Laramie shut the door behind them, Laila couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I want to go!” She blurted.

Laramie frowned. “I don’t know, Lay. We should think about this.”

“Lare, this could be it! They have the answer to all this.”

“We don’t even know where this place is.” He said doubtfully.

“I have a feeling. This is what we’ve been waiting for. I just know it.”

Laramie sighed heavily and sat down. “Won’t you miss it?”

Laila knit her eyebrows together. “I don’t understand.”

“If we go, Lay, this is it. It’s the end of our charade.” He hesitated. “This is us admitting we aren’t normal and we can’t come back to the life we’re living now. Nothing will be the same.” Laila looked at the ground and looked into his eyes. This way of life held nothing for her. Always an outcast, she now had a chance to fit in and she was going to take it.

“I’m ready.” She whispered. Laramie smiled gently.

“Well then I am, too.”

Chapter 7 A Long Night

Laramie stood up and they both walked back to where Addie was sitting patiently on their couch.

“Ah, so what’s your decision?” She smiled cheerfully as if she already knew.

Laramie glanced at Laila and she stepped forward. “We accept your invitation.”

“This is great news! Everyone will be so excited. Now you both must pack everything you need and drive to the airport around eight o’clock tommorow morning. Someone will be waiting for you and don’t worry about your cars, they will arrive at the academy within the week.”

Addie was talking so fast now that Laila’s head was spinning.

“…I’m sure you’ll love it there. Almost everyone is quite friendly, and don’t worry about your parents. An email will arrive shortly informing them of your recruitment to a prestigious boarding school. I don’t believe they will ask too many questions and you don’t have to tell them about your gifts if you’d prefer not to.” She said with a knowing look.

“Yeah, we’d absolutely prefer not to.” Laila grimaced.

Addie stood and began walking towards the door. “Well I had better be off now. Do you have any questions?”

“Are pets allowed?” Laila asked innocently. Laramie looked at her questioningly but she ignored him.

“Yes.” Addie replied wrinkling her brow. “But no ferrets, please. Archie already has one and one is already more than enough.” With that, she opened the door and her hankerchief skirt swirled in sudden wind and she disappeared into the darkness. Suddenly, the fuzzy calm that had been present since Laila took off her sunglasses disappeared.

“Oh wow. Did that just happen?” Laramie reached over and pinched her.

“Ow!”

“Yeah.” Laramie grinned. “It happened.”

“So I guess we should get packing then.”

“First, I have a birthday present for you.”

“Oh my gosh!” Laila looked up at the ceiling toward Laramie’s present which was probably peeing all over her bathroom floor. “Me too. I almost forgot!”