ã€ŠChildren of Atlantis - New Beginningsã€‹


 Aurelius Academy Primer

    Aurelius Academy Primer App, Version 10.3

    As you tap the start button a Video begins to play of a mid-thirties¡¯ statuesque woman with red hair and silver streak down the left side of her bangs. She¡¯s dressed in a black skirt suit. She has the air of a teacher about her.

    ¡°Welcome to Earth Prime. I am Eyre Aurelius Headmistress of Aurelius Academy we are pleased that you are joining us. We hope that the arrangements MANA has made for you and your family are to your liking. We have tried to ensure that all agreements have been met in full. If you have any complaints or notice any oversights please contact your Local Earth Gov office either in person, by phone, or submit a request via the web page. We pride ourselves on our relocation initiatives and are eager to ensure that all your needs are met. I have attached a presentation giving you a primer on pertinent Earth Prime history and historical events. So that you may compare it to your history and familiarize yourself with your new reality here on our home world.¡±

    The video switched and showed the woman again in front of Pentagram with the letters MANA across it and writing under neath. Magic Analysis and Neutralization Association.

    ¡°Hello, you and your family have chosen to move to Earth Prime as part of your enrollment into Aurelius Academy. The first question we inevitably get asked is why are we Earth Prime and not your Earth, that is simple we are only one of three discovered Earths with a DIR (Dimensional Instability Rating) of 0 and we are the only DIR 0 Earth that is high magic and populated by humans. You are being invited to Aurelius Academy because you are unique in that you come from a n-mag world, nil-magic world, and you have powers of some sort that we picked up on our scans. We have brought you here because you are powerful enough that we consider you a risk to your world without proper training. We will also not allow you to return to your world as you could pose a risk to governmental stability with the power you wield.¡±

    She paused and the slide behind her it showed a map with a circle on it she zoomed in and showed that the satellite image was showing no life whatsoever in it.

    ¡°This is the Germany Exclusion Zone. Our world developed magic in 1942. We have come to describe it is the event. It was initiated by a supernatural being rated as a P21. That is power rating 21. The entity was engaged in a battle with two other P21 rated beings. The initial blast of energy wiped out all life in the exclusion zone, including the microbes. It also caused the machinery, buildings to decay at an exponential rate.¡±

    The slide behind her showed a blast wave of purple energy.

    The aftershock encompassed the whole globe leaving in its wake people with magical abilities and others were genetically altered and became what we have come to call n-mag class powers. We were in the midst of a world war. The aftershock wiped out RADAR and communications worldwide. The armies kept fighting with the lack of communication. Once communications were reestablished, an armistice was reached with the remnants of the German forces resulting in their surrender and an influx of German refugees into the surrounding countries. All three P21 subjects vanished at the initiation of the Event.¡±

    ¡°To combat the new powerful humans who had no control over their abilities an organization of elder vampires was formed called: M.A.N.A. Magic Analysis and Neutralization Association. I didn¡¯t name it, one my comic book obsessed brethren did but and it stuck. Led by me we suppressed these new magically empowered humans when they attempted to overthrow legitimate governments. The existence of vampires came as shock to Earth¡¯s governments but when they realized we were there to help them capture and train or eliminate these new super-powered humans they accepted our assistance and provided funding. Our initial funding was provided by a corporation we formed centuries before to store our valuables called Aurelius Corporation. We brought the problem to heel and started Aurelius Academy at the behest of the new world government which is based in Munich. Member countries, which now consist of every government in the world, retain their independence and their own currency while allowing us to set Super-powered human and magical creature policy globally. The initial formation was signed with the Munich Accord, and in 1952 when Aurelius Academy was formed, we signed the Munich Alliance and Statement of Principles. That is not to say all has been peaceful. Japan did not surrender in world war two and the pacific war continued in earnest. It ended with Japan¡¯s surrender. In retaliation for a magical attack the US used three magically enhanced Nuclear Weapons on three of Japan¡¯s cities. The arms race involved magically enhanced nuclear weapons and we had a cold war between the superpowers, United States and Soviet Union. You likely had something similar on your world as we have seen it in the histories of many worlds we have come across.¡±

    ¡°In 1964 a scientist with a specialty in transportation magic, named Dr. Dolph Kenning created the first dimensional instability. Or portal. We had our first boots on the ground in 1965, 4 years before we set foot on the moon. These Portals are generated by devices that are quasi-magical in nature called Kenning Devices. We have explored six thousand, four hundred and eighty-three worlds to date. Most have had a DI rating of eighty of higher. This means that we predict they will collapse on themselves within minutes of being found. Only one in one thousand worlds have had a human population. We have only found two with a human population that had a DI rating of 0. Earth 2. And Earth 1, or Earth Prime. It seems parallel earth closest the Earth Prime are the most stable the further we get from our dimension the more instability is present increasing exponentially as we go past a certain point. At this point we are witnessing parallel earths come into existence and collapse in seconds. The only other dimension with a DI rating of 0 is Earth 3, which is where Aurelius Academy resides.¡±

    ¡°What is different and what is the same from your earth to this one. I cannot tell you off hand. We are aware of certain points we call dimensional pillars that seem to exist in all parallel Earths. These pillars make dimensional crossing easier. They are marked with runes that glow blue when certain individuals approach it. Specifically, those who have a magical, or genetic attachment to subject 1 from the event. We theorize they were created by her for some purpose which we have not been able to determine yet. Each is a locked chamber that is sealed with magic so ancient and powerful we have not been able to breech them with either divination or physical force. All experimentation on them has been ordered ceased as we have had several diviners go blind or insane when trying. We believe they were created on Earth Prime initially and that is why we are the most stable parallel universe and those closest to us also benefit from it. There is one near the grounds of the school and it is a forbidden territory. These pillars are where the guaranteed similarities end. At some point in the past on each world some entity made a choice, and that choice changed the course of evolution. In some cases life never formed, in some cases Dinosaurs evolved into super predators in another case nuclear war obliterated the earth in another case a new empire started in Jamaica and took over the entire world. We have no rhyme or reason to it. Ours became unique when the event occurred.¡±

    ¡°People of our Earth are well aware of super-powered humans in their midst and treat many of them as heroes, some of these super-powered individuals even have corporate sponsorships. Some just live their normal lives once they have their certificate and diploma from Aurelius Academy. Some of a magical bent go on to attend post-secondary school where they refine our understanding of magic and super-powers. We have determined one in a twenty-five thousand people will develop a magical ability or superpower. With our current population on Earth Prime of three billion people that leaves us with a current population of supers at approximately two-hundred and forty thousand. These individuals vary in strength from being able to change their skin color, which is PL 1, to PL 15. PL 15 is on par with a nuclear blast. PL 20¡¯s are very rare, we have seen one in the last eighty years. Most are PL 1 or 2. Rarely PL 5 or above. We assign these PL¡¯s based on the area of impact of the power and the damage it can cause to surrounding territories. Most of our PL 7¡¯s and 8¡¯s are spellcasters. Vampires like me who are elders and pure blooded are rated at a PL 17. We have not stopped all super-powered crime, but we have minimized it and trained local and federal authorities in all countries to deal with these problems. Most Federal governments can afford to have a force of Aurelius trained supers to assist in enforcing their laws.¡±

    ¡°What are the laws that pertain to you on Earth Prime as a super-powered individual? Simple, you are not to use your powers to break any law within your country residence. Any use of your power to alter time, alter reality on a large scale or in any other way alter the legitimate government control of each sovereign country is forbidden. Any such crime has punishment ranging from imprisonment on a savage world up to death. Any country taking part in such actions will face sanctions. Using your powers in an act that is considered a crime in your country is punishable by imprisonment and revocation of your license to work on Earth Prime only returned once you have undergone appropriate rehabilitation. As a super-powered individual, you are registered and must declare your status when entering another country or attempting transit to another parallel earth. You are bound by a code of conduct you swear to when you join Aurelius Academy. If you refuse to attend Aurelius academy and you are rated as a PL higher than 4 you will not receive a license to work on Earth Prime and your ability to travel to different countries is limited to special visas. What protections do you receive from MANA and Earth Gov? You are a free individual and immune to conscription by your government for war. They may conscript you in event of a natural disaster, or super-powered individual they require your assistance to stop. They rarely do so and only under dire circumstances. There is a minimum wage they must pay you for your services and it is quite costly. However, if you can stop a forest fire or lava flow from destroying a town or city, they will likely pay it willingly. I would also like to think that Aurelius Academy graduates would not need to be forced to assist in such humanitarian efforts. Beyond this you afforded all freedoms and rights of a citizen of your country. You can hold political office, own businesses, and have the right to earn money using your abilities so long as they do not violate the laws of your country or regulations laid out by your MANA license. If you have mental control powers and mind reading powers you have special restrictions of course. You are only allowed to use them if a warrant is issued by a recognized authority of law. Reading someone¡¯s mind against their will is a violation of law in all countries save eight. Those are authoritarian regimes and as much as MANA and Earth Gov disagree with such behavior we bow to their sovereignty.¡±

    ¡°These laws are enforced by MANA which has a global police force of Super powered beings of many PL¡¯s and skill sets. We ensure warfare is conducted through conventional means without nuclear weapons and super beings. Otherwise, we stay out of wars between countries though the World Government may at their discretion impose sanctions. We are not their enforcement arm, we are an arm¡¯s length entity that they provide funding too. MANA¡¯s other area of responsibility is dimensional invasion. There are other realms outside of the parallel earths that have from time to time tried to invade our world. MANA with the assistance of local military support has stopped each one. The main non-aggressor worlds we have access to are the Deadlands, and the Spirit lands. We are aware of others we are unable to enter or interact with directly while different religions have different names, they are designated Hell, Heaven and Limbo by MANA. The realms we have had attacks from are what we classify as nightmare realms. They have been quiet of late.¡±

    ¡°Finally, on to Aurelius Academy itself. Aurelius Academy was founded in 1952. It was created as a place where super-powered individuals could go and learn to control their abilities in a stable environment away from innocents. It started with three teachers. Myself, Neffi and my sister Helen. It has since blossomed to house sixty buildings and host a staff of over two hundred with specialties in all forms of Magic and Superpowers. The original campus was on the edge of the exclusion zone within the ten-kilometer buffer. As it grew and we found other dimensions we realized we would need a sizable campus to ensure we had enough facilities to train individuals and ensure the safety of surrounding communities. Earth 3 was the third parallel earth we chose. It is devoid of human life. It once housed humans however they were wiped out about four thousand years before our time. We can correlate it with an event on Earth Prime the vampires call the Pogrom. The planet is infused with far more magic than we have on Earth Prime. Crackling lines of power crisscross its surface. We assume instead of wiping out most vampires the event wiped out all sentient life. The world is cast in an almost permanent twilight due to a barrier blocking out the sun. Plant and animal life has adapted to sustain itself in this environment. The plants while somewhat familiar now feed on magical energy to sustain themselves along with what meager light the twilight provides. The animals have grown feral and mutated from the overabundance of magic. In its lush looking forests, you will find things we compare to their mythical counterparts here, Dragons, Unicorns, Fairies, dire wolves, dire cats. All are dangerous and vicious and drawn to living sentients like moths to flames. In other words, do not leave the protective wards of the school the planet is not safe. One last danger we have discovered are the remnant. These are feral proto humans that were likely once human and have bred since the fall of the planet. They are not what we would consider human-like intelligence by they are vicious and cunning. They hunt in packs. You can see them in the darkness of the planet due to the blue veins of energy that line their blackened skin. We have cleared the immediate surroundings of the school of them but if you leave the protection of the wards, they are out there somewhere we cannot possibly kill them all they are populous. They seem to understand we dislike their presence and avoid us actively. We have had students that have ignored the rules be attacked by them, those that survived were infected with a disease that slowly turned them into these things. We have a cure, but it is difficult to create and is not guaranteed these things are the only known way we have found for a super-human to lose their abilities.¡±

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Now that I have put the proper fear of Earth 3 into you, let¡¯s talk about the good parts of the Academy. We have managed to create a hole in the barrier allowing sunlight and moonlight in you will experience a normal weather cycle for our location which is approximately Bremen Germany, when it existed. We picked it because there is a dimensional pillar nearby to make transit easy. We have a just installed a fusion reactor, so we have a limitless supply of clean electricity. Due to trans-dimensional fiber optic connection developed by Kenning industries we have full internet access and cell phone service within the compound. You are encouraged to keep in touch with your family and friends while you are attending. We have state of the art classrooms equipped with computers and the latest in magical research texts. Your dorm rooms are spacious, you will be placed with four of your classmates each have your own private room along with a common area and further common areas within the dorm buildings. We have world class chefs that rotate through preparing our meals. Most of our instructors are fully certified instructor with MANA and have worked in either analysis or enforcement branches. Those that have not were brought on because of their expertise in fields that are unrelated to MANA activities. We have a rigorous physical training regimen and a very healthy diet provided to you. Our campus is approximately 100 hectares in total which makes its total size about that of Disney World. We have a full outdoor football pitch and track. An indoor football pitch and track. An Olympic sized swimming pool. A host of greenery and imported wildlife as well as some local wildlife that is harmless. The weather is on the temperate side. Due to our barriers and wards, we avoid the strange magical weathers experienced outside of the campus. As you can imagine such a large campus makes transportation key. Walking paths are available, as are golf carts, finally there is subway of sorts that can get you from one side to the other in about six minutes. We have a thirty-bed hospital on campus it is state of the art in both magical and scientific based healing it also houses a pharmacy and a dentist office. We use it as a learning hospital for those students who are magical healers or have powers that lend themselves to caring for sick and injured. We have attracted some of the best magical healing specialists to train our students. We sometimes host difficult cases from the home world, or ones too dangerous to be allowed to stay in a conventional hospital. If a super is injured on earth prime, they will likely find their way to our doorstep for healing. You are encouraged to explore within the bounds of the barriers. We have three separate libraries one deals with what is considered normal human studies, a second is a magical library and the final is a library dedicated to super abilities and their applications and history. Between the three we house the collective human knowledge of several parallel earths. Both in book and electronic format.¡±

    The app paused and flashed a prompt on the screen. Asking if there were any topics the user would like more information on. After selecting the Power Level Ranks and Descriptions the presenter appeared on screen again, this time in a dark blue skirt-suit.

    ¡°You can review the list behind me it is available in the learning materials provided to you on this tablet. As you can see some entities can be rated with more the one rating the highest almost always applies when assessing threat levels, but the others are often included to ensure MANA agents are aware of all threats faced from a particular target. These multiple ratings are always due to a special rating class. For example, time travelers are considered a high threat rating as they can alter timelines and create or destroy parallel earths wiping out all life on those worlds or creating a whole new world that we may have to deal with. Most of these entities also possess other powers that may pose a threat. Which is why we have the Power Level rating for example Enid Aurelius, my birth mother and vampire who turned me if she were alive and was on the grid as a threat would pop up as a PL:20T-19M-19. This instantly tells an agent that the individual is a time traveler that can do so at will and is also capable of decimating an entire continent with their additional powers, and in this case that she is the most powerful magical user ever encountered we have never seen another PL 19M rated mage. Please note that PL:21 will only ever appear as PL:21. Their ability to alter reality and rewrite history at a whim trumps everything else. We have never seen a PL:21 that was born human. All were created at the dawn of time. We currently are not capable of combating one should they appear again.¡±

    PL ¨C 21 ¨C Divine or primordial entity. Godlike being or Deity, Archangels. Ability to alter reality on a pan-dimensional and intergalactic scale. Examples include: Subject 1 (Presumed destroyed), Subject 2(Presumed destroyed) of 1942 Event, Entity known as God (Status Unknown). Entity known as Lucifer (Deceased killed by subject 1, 1942 Event). Sextus (Deceased - Suicide), AKA Romulus, AKA Zeus, AKA Jupiter, First Vampire. Entity known as Gabriel, Archangel (Status Unknown).

    PL-20-T- Capable of intentional Time Travel at will: Enid Aurelius (Deceased ¨C 1942 Event) ¨C Vampire Ancient. Hazel Aurelius (Missing ¨C Presumed erased form timelines) AKA Raptor¡¯s-Sorrow, AKA Haziel, Wolf-born Elder possibly Angel. Helen Aurelius (Alive ¨C MANA Agent), Vampire Pure Blood. Lilith (Status unknown ¨C Presumed deceased ¨C killed by subject 2 of 1942 event), First Human. Sarah, Demon slayer. (Deceased ¨C Demon, 1880 Goldwater, New Mexico. Sealed behind Dimensional pillar Goldwater Mine)

    PL ¨C 20 ¨C Capable of planetary extinction level event. This encompasses minor Deities, certain demonic entities and angels and certain rare super-humans. Examples include ¨C Remus, Atlantean, Nephetis, Destroyer of Sodom and Gomorrah, Winston Thomas(Presumed Deceased ¨C Siberian Prominence), AKA Void, See File ¨C Lamda-Echo-1 ¨C the Siberian prominence. Unknown Demon, See File Akkadia Vol 3 ¨C The Vampire Pogrom Earth 1 and Earth 3

    PL- 19 ¨C Capable of Continental Decimation ¨C Enid Aurelius (Deceased 1942 Event. May also be Subject 1 (Debated)), Vampire Ancient, See File Romen-3 ¨C The death of a legion, also See File Akkadia Vol 3 ¨C The Vampire Pogrom Earth 1 and Earth 3, Also see File The 1942 Event ¨C Who was involved. Vlad Targov (Presumed Deceased ¨C Siberian Prominence), AKA Fatherland ¨C See File Lamda-Echo-1 ¨C The Siberian Prominence.

    PL ¨C 18 ¨C Capable of Subcontinental Decimation ¨C Damian Stone AKA Decimation (Imprisoned ¨C Super-Max Earth 18 Facility - Lifer), see Super Villains of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Hans Koenig AKA Bismarck (MANA ¨C Retired Agent), see Superheroes of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.

    PL ¨C 17 ¨C Capable of Destruction a City or Conquering a Small Nation ¨C Eyre Aurelius (MANA Agent ¨C Active ¨C Education Division), Vampire Elder, Helen Aurelius (MANA Agent ¨C Active ¨C On loan to Education Division), Vampire Pure Blood, Neffi (MANA Agent ¨C Active ¨C On loan to Education Division), Vampire Ancient. Battlecry, real ID Unknown (Wanted Criminal ¨C Considered Active)

    PL ¨C 16 ¨C Global Mind control or influence ¨C Torian Joy ¨C AKA - Mycilli ¨C (MANA Agent ¨C Wanted for terrorist activities), Charlene Thompson ¨C (MANA Director ¨C Active)

    PL ¨C 15 ¨C M/S/P ¨C This is the highest rating we have for Magic Users. None have shown any higher power ratings. Capable of Localized destruction/Natural disaster/Mental Influence. Dr. Irena Ryan ¨C (MANA Agent ¨C Active) Archmage. John Armstrong ¨C AKA Black John ¨C (Imprisoned ¨C SuperMax ¨C Earth 18 ¨C Lifer), Sonic Pulses, Eyre Aurelius (MANA Agent ¨C Active ¨C Education) Archmage.

    PL ¨C 14 ¨C This rating typically covers Mages of moderate power. They have their own scale. Super humans of this level typically could destroy a city block if given enough time.

    PL ¨C 13 ¨C Super Humans of this level are considered high enough power to be threat to life in their vicinity but are not considered a serious threat to safety of a town.

    PL ¨C 12 ¨C This is the upper reaches most super humans can reach. They can typically control an element or plant life or animals, sometimes they have an elemental body that is extremely dangerous to those in the vicinity, such as super-hot flames. They are the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile

    PL ¨C 11 These would be considered supers of exceptional power at the school Mages with this level of power are capable of most common magic with ease and find it challenging to do more complicated magic that draw on more power. They are in the 97<sup>th</sup> Percentile

    PL ¨C 10 - These are considered of sizable power. They are near the upper end of what we see at Aurelius Academy they can look forward to high-ranking career in a field of their choice. They are the 95<sup>th</sup> percentile

    PL- 9 ¨C These are considered the higher end of our student base, They would be in the 93<sup>rd</sup> percentile of the super powered individual scale. They can look forward to exemplary careers in a field of their choice

    PL ¨C 8 ¨C These are individuals in the 90th percentile. They are more specialized than more supers with a higher power rating. They will be trained to experts in their field such as healing, natural disaster containment, animal handling.

    PL ¨C 7 ¨C These individuals in the 85<sup>th</sup> percentile. They are highly specialized and are very good at one thing. They can look forward to being experts in their field of power and study.

    PL ¨C 6 ¨C Weaker in power but more of a generalist, supers/mages of this classification can do very well with minor and low-medium magical tasks/super powered tasks. They are usually well rounded and can expect a very good wage in their field of study. They are not considered a high risk or high priority target (77<sup>th</sup> Percentile)

    PL ¨C 5 ¨C This is your average super. They encompass most of our student body. They can expect a good wage as well, these individuals while dangerous to a normal human one on one are not inherently capable of a massive amount of disturbance without use of conventional means. Someone who can turn invisible to the entire spectrum would be this level. Someone who can lift a car. Stop bullets with their skin. They are the 75<sup>th</sup> percentile.

    PL ¨C 4- These are getting to be minor powers, still rarer then the PL-1s but not considered more of a threat then a human with a gun in most instances. (70<sup>th</sup> percentile)

    PL ¨C 3 ¨C Hedge mages is the best term to describe these folks, capable of minor magics that would be a hit at a magic show or kids birthday party, but with little practical use in most cases. Some of these can make a decent wage using their power for a very specific ask but specialist training is not recommended. They are of course welcome at Aurelius Academy at their guardian¡¯s expense.

    PL ¨C 2 ¨C Extremely weak abilities. Of little to no value to anyone even the person possessing them. They are able to attend Aurelius Academy as it is open to all super powered individuals but more localized and schooling is recommended at a MANA approved school.

    PL ¨C 1 ¨C Abilities so minor they are negligible. These supers are supers in name only. A Mage of this power level could light a candle with their finger. Make a minor sound. A super may be able to grow their hair or nails. Change their skin color. Beyond some very specific situations they are likely just doing normal human jobs. They do not require registration, nor do they require specific schooling outside normal public schools. They are of course welcome at Aurelius academy our charter declares we must accept all super powered or magical individuals. They either need to have their guardians pay their way, or their countries government. Sometimes they receive scholarships based on other talents such as scholastic ability.

    You tap on the Subject 1 link. The narrator appeared in another video with a backdrop of several sketches and paintings of an angelic being dating from the 12<sup>th</sup> century to a black and white photo of dubious quality from 1918 and another from 1942. It was tall and angelic, and she could tell it had a similar color hair to her the paintings showed her wings as black and another showed them as silver. She started speaking.

    ¡°The supernatural entity designated Subject 1 has appeared throughout Earth Prime¡¯s history at certain nexuses of Demonic Events. In most cases there is a Dimensional Pillar located near the sightings. We are unsure of what her goals were or what her motivations were. She was allied with Hazel Aurelius, Sarah (O¡¯connor?) a Demon Slayer and Helen Aurelius. Helen¡¯s observations are recorded elsewhere as we have no corroboration for her version of events. As an official MANA file this will be constrained to facts verifiable by historic record and corroborated by multiple sources. We have confirmed she called herself Seraph, Archangel of the Universe, First of God¡¯s Children. Her witnessed powers were super strength. Flight. The ability to phase through solid matter. Use all manner of magic. One recorded instance of her using a divination spell to physically reach through and touch a demon so she could track him. She was also witnessed to cause the entire battle of the Somme to cease while she battled a demon in no man¡¯s land with her allies. Based the 1942 Event and the creation of the Germany Exclusion zone and subsequent scans of the area and Earth Prime we have determined she was a PL:21 capable of altering Reality on a pan-dimensional scale and can impact universal constants. Our divinations and research also indicate it was she who sealed off the pathways to Limbo, Heaven and Hell. This act shattered reality into Parallel earths. We also believe based on divination and research that she knew this would occur when she attempted to fix the boundaries and built the dimensional pillars to stop reality from being destroyed. She is presumed destroyed in the culmination of the 1942 Event. It is theorized she gave up her existence to stabilize creation. There is an alternate theory that her mind fractured and she was lost in time and space and an energy being with no physical form. This is based firsthand reports corroborated by Helen Aurelius in 12<sup>th</sup> century England when God appeared to her and she took her true form for the first time. She was reported to have said: I can feel all things in all times in all corners of the universe. I cannot contain this, and her form started to destabilize. It is theorized she was describing touching all of time and space at one moment. If this alternate theory is correct, then she could be out there in one of the parallel earths lost and alone unaware of her true potential and the people around her unaware of the danger she presents. For further information review File ¨C Subject 1 ¨C 1942 Event ¨C Suspected AKA Archangel Seraph.¡±

    Still curious about the biggest of the biggest bads you tap Subject 2 ¨C 1942 Event. The woman appeared again with pictures and symbols. One photograph of a blonde man who was quite handsome.

    ¡°Subject 2 ¨C AKA the Black Sun. AKA Lucius Aurelius. AKA Chronos. Deceased two times. The Black Sun was created first. He was a being of Chaos. He opposed bringing order to creation and corrupted it every chance he got. His crimes are too numerous to list. He was a PL:21. He was responsible for the creation of the Deadlands. We have two opposing records of his demise due to a Parallel universe merge event that occurred four years ago. During which several individuals who were widely thought to be unique on all earths had a series of memories overlap their own. It was traumatic for most who were mortal and in some cases their brains were unable to handle the additional information and they either went insane or had a stroke. Those who were less susceptible to such damage were able to corroborate some facts. That Sarah the Demonslayer existed in that universe and was actively fighting Super-powered humans and that my mother, her sister and I we were able to create a new universe distinct from our own. My mother, in that parallel earth sacrificed herself to destroy the Black Son in a collapsing universe she caused to implode. Based on those events it is theorized that caused the events that precipitated the 1942 Event here. Where the Black Sun was again slain, this time by Subject 1 ¨C Archangel Seraph. It is expected that the Archangel Seraph did not intend to battle him but when the conflict was forced, she found it necessary to end him. We believe that the parallel incursion we suffered was a result of our altered timeline running into theirs. If this is the case then by killing him both after he had been slain as the pocket universe could only exist at the beginning of creation, and before the actual prime timeline destroyed of him, she caused paradox. We believe he was not her intended target and that Lucifer was. It is also suspected that the alternate version of myself and my mother caused the demonic infestations by creating the pocket universe then shattering it. These are only theories because that parallel universe snapped all ties with the remaining ones and either no longer exists or is no longer accessible. Subject 2 is considered fully deceased with no chance of return. His time loop was closed, and the paradox will have obliterated him.¡±

 Earth 2 - June 2026 - Schools Out

    Sarah peeked up from behind the thick Tomato plants and she saw what she thought was one of her twin brothers. She jumped out with a loud boo. Expecting the playful laugh of a seven-year-old she was surprised to be staring face to face with a man was looking at her in a way she didn¡¯t quite like. She stumbled backwards.

    ¡°Where are my brothers?¡±

    ¡°I told them your parents called them in.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be here.¡±

    ¡°I think I am, I¡¯ve been watching you from my window. You look so lonely. I thought maybe we could get to know each other, just the two of us. You¡¯re so pretty Sarah, you should be treated right.¡±

    She moved back behind another table trying to keep out of his reach and circle him to the one door out of the green house. She made a break for it, and he managed to grab her. She started screaming he clamped his hand over her mouth.

    ¡°Shh, shh, I love you; I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes were wide, and she tried to reach for a trawl.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to do what boys and girls do when they love each other. You¡¯ll see, you¡¯ll like it.¡±

    Sarah struggled violently she saw her face in one of the heat reflectors and her eyes flared with a green light suddenly she felt a burning in her hands. She¡¯d never stopped screaming so when she fell to the ground, she couldn¡¯t tell he was screaming too. Her hands had green veins pulsing through them. She crawled away and grabbed one of the hand trawls ready to hit her attacker with it, but he didn¡¯t come after her. She had stopped screaming now and she realized he was screaming too when she turned around, she saw the plants of the green house had overgrown it and he was struggling tangled in Tomato vines they had thickened to an inch in diameter and he was slowly being strung up by them she could see his eyes bulging out of his skull as his screams suddenly stopped because he was no longer able to breath. The plants were starting to pierce his skin in places tearing it open. Sarah screamed again. The usually just annoying prickly white fibers on the plants had turned into vicious thorns. She could see the green veins in her hand growing more and more pronounced. Like they were taking her over. She didn¡¯t stop screaming until her father burst in. He started cutting the vines with a pair of large snippers he¡¯d use for tree hedge and small tree trimming. The plants started actively heading towards him which made Sarah scream louder. One of the vines was wrapping around his ankle. When her brothers piled in the two seven-year-olds started screaming too. Something snapped into place as she saw the plants heading towards her brothers and they suddenly stopped moving.

    Sarah sat up straight in bed and she looked at her hands no veins she curled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It had seemed so real. It only took a few brief moments for her father to burst through the door baseball bat in hand. Seeing no intruder he calmed down and checked the window. He stared at the overgrown row of flowers on the inside of her window.

    ¡°Sarah what is the matter hon?¡±

    ¡°Just a nightmare dad sorry.¡±

    ¡°Wow these plants sure love this east facing window. What are you feeding them wonder grow? You were right at dinner we¡¯ll need to transplant them to bigger pots, maybe even move them to the green house. They¡¯re getting too big for their pots.¡±

    Sarah narrowed her eyes at him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember saying that.¡±

    ¡°No, you were saying that between when you were complaining about your math test and Candace asking you why a boy was wearing a summer dress.¡±

    Sarah sighed and laid back down.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry dad, just had a nightmare.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, we all have them. It¡¯s been a long time, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Same one about the killer tomato plants chasing after us or when you were basically losing all cohesion and your molecules were bursting apart?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°This was different, there was a man in it he grabbed me¡­I think he was¡­¡±

    She shivered.

    ¡°You ever seen him before? Maybe you saw someone, and you felt uncomfortable. You¡¯re stressed with your Junior high graduation coming up, exams, and the bullying you don¡¯t tell us about. You¡¯re fourteen now I know it is happening, you aren¡¯t from here and your accent and other things.¡±

    ¡°Why did we come to the states anyway? And why did we leave Minnesota, I was happy in Minnesota why did we move the Arizona its hot then it¡¯s cold then it¡¯s hot. Like every single day. It makes me miss the rain at least in Minnesota we got snow. And I miss playing hockey.¡±

    ¡°Well, you know how my job is, I had a great opportunity here. I had to take it. Your mom¡¯s a lawyer she can pass the bar and work anywhere. And after what happened in Scotland with the family, it¡¯s hard to¡­ want to be there. To many memories for all of us. Go back to sleep you have a big day tomorrow. Last exam, and there is something else¡­ what was it, I know we took the afternoon off work for it what was it, did your mom and I have a hot date¡­no that¡¯s not it. There is something important.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°Sorry this old brain of mine, guess we¡¯ll just go to work after lunch.¡±

    Sarah hit him with one of her pillows.

    ¡°The Arizona junior varsity girls state soccer championships. Maybe it¡¯s because they don¡¯t call it football here old man.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes! You know, I think we know someone who¡¯s the starting center-forward for one of the teams, oh it¡¯s my daughter Sarah. MVP for the last two years running, I wonder how she¡¯ll do if she stays up all night because she had a wee nightmare?¡±

    He kissed her forehead. She hit him with her pillow again. He stood up and picked up his bat and moved towards her door.

    ¡°I still like hockey better!¡±

    He laughed softly and tapped her light switch turning them off.

    ¡°Dream of rainbows and unicorns Sarah-bear.¡±

    ¡°Dream of football pitches and fresh Haggis daddy-monster.¡±

    Sarah fluffed her pillows and laid back down rolling onto her side and sticking her arm under it. She stared at the unicorn poster she¡¯d had since she was five that had traveled from Glasgow, to Minneapolis, to Phoenix in the last six years. She looked up at the poster she had of Minnesota Wild¡¯s Captain. She still played hockey here, but it wasn¡¯t the same. She snuggled into her pillow and looked up at the skates and decided to dream about being on the outdoor rink again with the cold wind blowing in her hair and snow falling around her.

    She was in the midst of taking a slapshot to win the Scottish Independent Territories the Gold in the winter Olympics when her phone alarm started going off. She grumbled groggily and walked across the room and turned it off. It had become apparent that part of managing her raging ADHD aside from meds was to ensure she had to actually get out of bed to turn off alarms because otherwise she would just turn it off and forget to wake up. She pulled her nightgown up and plopped down on the toilet and stared at the wall for a while then snapped out of it when she heard her father calling.

    ¡°Sarah, why haven¡¯t you started our shower yet?¡±

    She blinked and jumped off forgetting to clean up and threw her nightgown aside and leaped into the shower and turned it on. She tied her hair up and rinsed off and sighed at herself in the mirror. Turning to the side and looking. They were looking bigger or maybe it was just in her head.

    ¡°One day I will look like a girl. When it doesn¡¯t matter anymore. When it¡¯s not graduation.¡±

    She sighed and pulled on her mostly unnecessary sports bra. Then tugged on a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting shirt. She sighed again. All the extra fabric in the universe would not hide the fact she was still not hitting puberty like she should. She grabbed her school bag and tablet and rushed down the stairs she grabbed a water bottle her mother had filled with milk for her and started munching on one of the muffins from a bulk store pack. She held it in her mouth with her teeth while she hopped trying to get her runners on.

    ¡°Sarah, you¡¯re forgetting something.¡±

    Sarah hopped on one foot while getting her other shoe on and gave her mother a tight hug and spoke with her mouth still full of muffin.

    ¡°Love you mom.¡±

    ¡°In the proper Scottish Dear.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes. And repeated herself in Gaelic. The muffin fell out and she caught it midair her brothers laughed. She heard pills shaking in their plastic prescription container.

    ¡°Meds dear.¡±

    Sarah sighed putting the now half eaten muffin down on the counter and took the bottle and put two of the ADHD meds in her mouth. She went to wash it down with the milk. Her mother waved her hand. Her mother was speaking to her in Gaelic like she usually did. She was Mrs. Keep the mother tongue alive MacCloud.

    ¡°Sarah! Water, the milk will stop it from working!¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes took the glass of water and washed down the two pills. She kissed her mom on the cheek and grabbed her muffin and rushed out the door. She made it to the end of her driveway just as the school bus arrived. She climbed on while still eating the muffin. She held it in her mouth again she readjusted her bag and sat down in her usual spot. She then resumed eating her muffin. Candace was looking at her and whispering to Megan. Sarah put her noise cancelling headphones once she finished the muffin and started studying for her exam which she¡¯d forgotten to do the night before. Her phone started beeping her ears and she pulled the headphones down and let then hang over her neck. She slipped her tablet in her bag. Another one of her coping mechanisms was to set her phone to vibrate when she got to the school so she wouldn¡¯t sit on the bus like an idiot. She looked down and noticed she was covered in crumbs she dusted them off outside the bus.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter how much you rub them they¡¯re not going to grow. Why not just cut your hair off and transition?¡±

    Candace started laughing with Megan. Sarah clenched her fist she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked down at Hana her assistant captain for the school soccer team. Hana was shorter by almost a full foot. Sarah was getting close to five foot eight.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be thinking of punching her in the face would you oh Captain?¡±

    ¡°The thought might have crossed my head.¡±

    ¡°Do that after the championship game hmm?¡±

    ¡°But it would feel better to do it now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but then we¡¯d lose the championship because our blonde who I swear should have been born a ginger captain and the best center-forward in the state would be in jail.¡±

    Sarah sighed and hiked her bag up.

    ¡°Sarah, you shouldn¡¯t let her get to you, she¡¯s just jealous you¡¯re better looking than her. I mean you¡¯re like the only girl here who doesn¡¯t need make up to pull off that kind of look here. Candace has more pimples on her face then a pig¡¯s ass.¡±

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Sarah laughed at the image.

    ¡°A smile. You ready for History?¡±

    ¡°Am I ever?¡±

    ¡°Like you need to be worried about anything. I swear you cheat. You barely put effort in and there you go perfect score. I mean every time one of the teachers is like Sarah what was I just talking about, or what¡¯s the answer to this question and they haven¡¯t even gone over it and you just blurt out the answer like its nothing. The look on their faces is tragic.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m tragic. If I¡¯m so pretty, why don¡¯t I have a date to the graduation dance?¡±

    ¡°Well Sarah you¡¯ve got what we call a resting bitch face. Boys are scared of you. Like seriously scared of you. I mean you show up at the gym, you add weights to the bar after the football players have been lifting. They think you are going to break them. Also, there is that rumor that Candace started about you liking girls.¡±

    Sarah spun around and Hana grabbed her and spun her around again.

    ¡°Easy captain. Game first.¡±

    ¡°Why is she so mean? I¡¯ve never done anything to her, actually I¡¯ve never said more than two words to her. It wasn¡¯t like this in Minneapolis I didn¡¯t have to worry about what I dressed like everyone just dressed in leggings and hoodies and then parkas. No one cared who had boobs or not. People just liked me.¡±

    ¡°Oh dear, were back to the great true north war stories again? This is like defcon one. You need to get your head in the game. History then the real game. I want to get a second state championship before go join some shitty senior high team that thinks the ball goes in their mouth or something.¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Do you have a date?¡±

    ¡°Mmmm, I don¡¯t want to say.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god you do?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Eddie asked me.¡±

    ¡°I am actually surprised he¡¯s spent the whole year staring at you across the cafeteria and how many times has he come up to you and walked away after mumbling something?¡±

    Hana punched Sarah¡¯s arm.

    ¡°He¡¯s shy, don¡¯t make fun of him for that. Hey, I have an idea, pick a boy, tell him that if he doesn¡¯t go to the dance with you, you¡¯ll kick his ass.¡±

    Sarah laughed again.

    ¡°Oh, that will not destroy any chance I have at a social life for the next fifty years at all.¡±

    ¡°Well, I figure you have 50/50 odds of them saying yes because they don¡¯t have a date, or the other fifty because you scare them more than their dates. Oh oh, don¡¯t look now guidance counselor alert. So hey, see you in warm up!¡±

    Hana bolted and Sarah looked after whispering her friends name name harshly. Ms. Thomas was approaching, she was an older teacher, but still eager to make a difference. She was shorter than the platinum blonde teenager. Sarah plastered her best everything fine is smile on her face.

    ¡°Ms. MacCloud you have been avoiding me, on no less than five occasions I have sent you an email to discuss your future and you have said you¡¯ll schedule something with me, well you have a spare period right now and I am free.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I was going to study for my history exam, in the library and I have the state championships this afternoon. I guess maybe pass my info onto my new school¡¯s guidance counselor and I can catch up then.¡±

    ¡°No, we have to review how your progress with your learning disability plan to confirm the CBT and extra time you¡¯ve been provided have helped or it needs to be reassessed next year. This is about your future, this far more important than a silly soccer game.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°What are you saying Ms. Thomas?¡±

    ¡°I am saying that this learning plan you¡¯ve been avoiding discussing needs to be signed off before the end of the school year which is today at two pm. Go study for your history exam I will explain to your coach why you will not be at the game.¡±

    Sarah rushed to catch up.

    ¡°Can¡¯t we just do it tomorrow before graduation?¡±

    ¡°No, it has to be today. Let this be a lesson for you for procrastinating.¡±

    Sarah let lose a string of curse words in Gaelic. The nerve of her Guidance Counselor lecturing her on procrastinating when the thing she was procrastinating from was her ADHD adaptive learning plan ADHD is the procrastination disorder. It¡¯s like the woman had no clue what ADHD was. She stopped and turned to Sarah with her hands on her hips.

    ¡°What was that young lady?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry mom taught me to speak Gaelic first and still makes me use it all the time at home sometimes when I get flustered my brain thinks English and Gaelic comes out.¡±

    ¡°ADHD my left foot, that¡¯s your problem. No wonder you struggle so much with classes having to learn two separate languages. What does she expect of you? You see ADHD is a crutch kids these days use, they peddle these drugs to you and expect them to work miracles without looking at the real causes. I¡¯m going to write your psychiatrist and send him a piece of my mind. CBT, Vyvanse special learning plans, how about we start with making sure your taught proper American English.¡±

    Sarah thanked those meds that Ms. Thomas was ranting about for kicking in, so she didn¡¯t yell at the pushy guidance counselor.

    ¡°Can we just discuss the plan now?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want your history mark to suffer Sarah.¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to do some practice exams and see where I was weak, I did all my studying over the week as agreed to in my adaptive learning plan.¡±

    ¡°Well in that case come with me. I do not understand you students getting you into my office is like pulling teeth. You have been avoiding me for this whole year and to think if we had of just talked at the beginning, we could have gotten you an extra year of learning. It¡¯s the problem these foreign families coming to this country trying to force their children to speak the old language.¡±

    Sarah followed her to her office all the while thinking that she shouldn¡¯t be surprised by a woman who has a sticker that reads Keep America American being so obtuse. Sarah was used to instructors approaching her ADHD like it is a made-up learning disability. Sure, she was smart, but they did not seem to understand the amount of energy it took her to just show up to class let alone pay attention or remember to do her homework. Ms. Thomas closed her door and motioned to the seat in front of her desk.

    ¡°Sarah, we have done our best to keep you and your teachers on this adaptive learning plan, but I am just not seeing the improvement we would expect.¡±

    She pushed her glasses up on her nose and typed a few things into her computer. She was a one finger, one key at a time person. Sarah wrapped her hands around the edges of her bag how did the woman not know how to type faster? Why was she wasting so much time? Sarah¡¯s knees bounced and at the instant she lost all care for whatever Ms. Thomas was doing and she started thinking about the game she has coming up. She was snapped out of her train of thought when Ms. Thomas hit her desk with a book.

    ¡°Excuse me young lady, we are in a meeting. I¡¯m using my valuable time to help you, the least you can do is pay attention.¡±

    ¡°Sorry Ms. Thomas, I was using the time to go over my history essay topics for the exam.¡±

    ¡°When you are in a meeting with someone you should be paying attention to them and not what is coming up after the meeting. Now, where was I? Oh yes.¡±

    She adjusted her glasses and began key hunting again with two fingers. She pressed enter like typing stuff into the computer was a great achievement.

    ¡°Ah yes, now you see that is what¡­ You have almost straight A¡¯s. Why do you even have a learning plan? I don¡¯t understand. Let¡¯s just see what the teachers have to say.¡±

    She went back to key hunting with two fingers Sarah¡¯s grip on her bag tightened. She felt like she was going to die of old age before Ms. Thomas looked up one of her teacher¡¯s comments let alone all of them.

    ¡°Mmhmm, mmhmm, I don¡¯t understand why you were even allowed to have this Adaptive Learning plan. You have exemplary marks, but these comments certainly do describe you: Sarah is brilliant, if she would apply herself, she would be getting A+¡¯s, the only A+ here is gym class. And mmhmm, if she learns to apply herself, she could get herself an athletics¡¯ scholarship to any school in the country. And Your Math, B, Sarah doesn¡¯t apply herself, I feel that if she would pay better attention in class be an A or A+ student she seems to know more about math then I do, but she doesn¡¯t apply her knowledge. She should have been on the Mathiletes squad this year not wasting her time with Hockey. So basically, you are wasting your potential and this Adaptive Learning plan Ms. MacCloud. What I see here is laziness and us giving you more excuses to be lazy. You will not be able to ride your natural talent and smarts all the way through the four-year high school plan you¡¯ve signed up for. And college, this kind of behavior is out of the question. Wasted potential that¡¯s what all your teachers say about you. So young lady, first off, this.¡±

    She lifted up the adaptive learning plan her parents had worked out with her doctor and the board of education and a real guidance counselor had created.

    ¡°Is a crutch you don¡¯t need, I¡¯m going to vehemently recommend against it being continued next year, there are students that need these extra resources and obviously you don¡¯t, and you are going to need to stop being lazy and using this ADHD diagnosis as a crutch, it is a made-up disability and has no place in our psychological textbooks. You should also stop taking the medication. Terrible for you.¡±

    Sarah was getting close to tears. All the hard work her parents and she had put in over the last three years was getting torn away from her. She was glad for the meds that were apparently terrible for her because she felt like if she didn¡¯t have them, she¡¯d be in complete tears now and yelling obscenities at this old lost in the past busy body. Instead, she just pushed her building rage down into her gut and nodded.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need this, Sarah. Or the drugs, you are fine, the doctor is just pushing these drugs on you, it¡¯s not your fault you¡¯re just a child. We¡¯ll get this all straightened out. And I¡¯ll be sure to mention on my notes here that your mother should not be filling your head with dead languages. Let¡¯s make a clean break get you out of this place where these doctors are telling you something is wrong with you and it¡¯s not¡±

    She tossed the adaptive learning plan in the garbage. As it hit the bin the computer screen sparked and flashed as did the computer. Sarah jumped back and so did Ms. Thomas.

    ¡°Oh my, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s supposed to happen.¡±

    The smoke started to seep out of her computer and the smell of burned electronics filled the air. Ms. Thomas grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed the computer. Sarah opened the door.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll have to go find another computer to make my notes. I guess we¡¯re done for now. Good luck on your exam and Go Bobcats.¡±

    Sarah nodded she wasted no time getting out of the office and to the library. She found an isolated study desk and she found herself grabbing the edges of it and having a mini-panic attack. She was sobbing now and gasping for air she reached for her phone and dialed her dad. When he picked up his phone, he seemed to know something was wrong immediately.

    ¡°Sarah-Bear, what happened?¡±

    ¡°Dad, Ms. Thomas is taking away my adaptive learning plan, she says I can¡¯t take the ADHD meds anymore and that I¡¯m just lazy. That ADHD is made up¡­ and¡­that I¡¯m taking up resource¡¯s others need. I¡¯m going to fail out of school next year and¡­ and¡­¡±

    Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

    ¡°Shh, shh, Ms. Thomas can¡¯t do that, hon, the board of education signed off on it. She has no say in it. She has no right to make you feel bad because you have a learning disability.¡±

    Sarah was gasping for air and still sobbing. She could feel the world closing in on her.

    ¡°Sarah hon, Sarah, listen to my voice. You don¡¯t need to panic, everything is fine, if they try to take it away from you, your mom will sue the pants off of them and get that fud fired. Just remember your breathing for Karate, slow breath in, slow breath out.¡±

    Sarah started to breath in and out trying to force herself to maintain a calm pace.

    ¡°That¡¯s good Sarah, that¡¯s good. Center yourself. There is nothing you cannot do if you center yourself and focus on the task at hand.¡±

    ¡°Now what were you supposed to be doing?¡±

    ¡°Studying for my history exam.¡±

    ¡°Good now keep breathing like that, get your tablet out and what was the exam on today?¡±

    ¡°The Civil War.¡±

    ¡°And have you already written the answer to one of the essay topics you¡¯re supposed to be answering?¡±

    ¡°Aye.¡±

    She could hear someone calling his name through the line. Her father must have put his hand over the microphone because she could barely make out give me five.

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m such a bourach dad. You go ahead.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not done, What¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°I read my essay answer a few times so I know my main points so I can write out again.¡±

    ¡°Aye Sarah-Bear. I love you.¡±

    ¡°I love you dad.¡±

    ¡°Good luck on your exam, and Sarah-Bear?¡±

    ¡°Aye dad?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a champ, no one can take that away from you, go get ¡®em!¡±

    ¡°Aye Dad.¡±

    She hung up her cell phone and wiped her tears up and she did just what they¡¯d talked about and pulled out her tablet and she started reading the essay she had written. Not that she cared about the Second Battle of Bull Run or anything about the civil war that the Americans that seemed so consumed by. The exam was a formality for her. Her teacher was obsessed with the different battles of the civil war and when he would debate tactics and they would do the reenactments with miniatures he would call enriched learning she would poke holes in strategies used during the war. She would often challenge herself to see how the south could have won, not that she preferred their outlook at all, she considered them racist scum, but they were the losers so it was fun to see if she could make them winners. Her history teacher was often infected by her tangents. She had impressed him with her apparent knowledge of the civil war, and she¡¯d managed A+ on all her assignments. If she didn¡¯t write the exam she¡¯d get a B-, if she did write it and got a C she¡¯d end up with an A in the class anyway.

    She¡¯d always done that. Strategize it is what made her such a formidable sports player, she had the physical ability, but it was her mind that won most of the games. Each play was and interaction was another game to win, another person to outsmart on the field of¡­battle. It was the same with Karate and her Kung-fu lessons. She usually won not because of her superior physical ability and size but because she would outsmart her opponent. One of her instructors once joked she must have grown up reading the art of war. She looked back down to the essay. She was curious if the strategy she had decided would be better for the Union to follow would have been successful, so she used her allowance to buy a silly civil war strategy game and painstakingly recreated the battle. She was able to prove she would have won if she was the Union general, at least based on the simulation the game had. Of course, she¡¯d also ended up having to use her adaptive learning plan¡¯s extra time to hand in an essay for English that she had written the day after it was due.

    She stopped in the girl¡¯s bathroom to wash her face and try and get rid of the redness in her eyes from her crying fit. She looked at herself in the mirror. She tugged her shirt down and pulled her long platinum blonde hair back in a ponytail end wrapped an elastic around it. Her eyes were weird it was the thing she liked least about herself. They had a strange almost silver color to them. They didn¡¯t look natural, and everyone assumed she was wearing contacts. She filled her water bottle up and turned to leave and was face to face with Candace, Megan and Sabrina. The three loved to bully her she wondered what the insult would be this time.

    ¡°You know the transgender bathroom is two doors down. It¡¯s the one with the picture of a broom on the door.¡±

    Sarah was once again thankful for the meds she just stood up straighter and walked past them. She¡¯d engaged them in the past and it had just escalated things. She had decided then the best course of action in this battle was to not engage them.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter how far you stick your chest out; You still look like a boy.¡±

    They giggled and laughed. Sarah just closed her eyes and moved on. She picked up an exam from her teacher¡¯s desk who looked up at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m eager to read your essay.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t fail me if I disagree with your statement for it will you?¡±

    ¡°No, but I mark you down a few grades.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°You have such an asymmetrical way of looking at warfare. Let¡¯s hope Scotland never invades the US hmm?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Please, you lot would surrender the minute we lifted our kilts.¡±

    He chuckled.

    ¡°Good luck with game. I know you won¡¯t need it on the exam.¡±

 Earth 2 - June 2026 - Graduation Day

    Sarah stared up at the glow in the dark stars and galaxies that doted her ceiling. She remembered putting them up with her father when they first moved into the house. She smiled at them and put her fingers up and made squishing motions between her fingers with a smile. And thought if only I could do that to Candace¡¯s head. She sighed and looked at her shelf, the new state championship trophy sat amongst the rest of her sports related achievements on it hung the MVP for the game medal. Hana was right, nothing Candace could do could take that away from her. She heard her phone vibrate. It was a text from Hana she had taken a video of her dirty dancing with her trophy. Sarah laughed. And sent a laughing cat emoji and let her hand fall to her side still holding her phone. She sighed and got off the bed and put her phone on her desk and set her alarm.

    ¡°God grant me the strength to not punch Candace in the face tomorrow at the Grad, or the dance. And please no more nightmares.¡±

    She crossed herself and rolled on her side. She slept soundly through the night. She still felt like she hadn¡¯t slept at all when she heard her phone alarm going off. She stood up and repeated her morning ritual. This time skipping the staring at the wall for ten minutes after she finished peeing part. She flossed, she actually had time this morning. She had her phone playing a mix and she was brushing her teeth, between scrubbing she was dancing and spinning and lip-syncing using the toothbrush as microphone. She was in a t-shirt and her underwear she heard her mom clearing her throat.

    ¡°Mum!¡±

    Sarah slammed the door shut. Her mother kept speaking in Scottish Gaelic.

    ¡°Get dressed Sarah, you¡¯re going to be late for the hair and makeup appointment I made.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide as she stared at herself in the mirror, she had totally forgotten about that appointment she had begged her mother for, for weeks. She spit out the toothpaste and rinsed and opened the door while hopping and putting on her shorts.

    ¡°Yes, mum.¡±

    ¡°In the proper tongue like you were taught young lady, just get used to putting it on because when you do, you¡¯ll miss it if you don¡¯t.¡±

    Sarah paused and then responded in Gaelic.

    ¡°Yes mum.¡±

    Sarah pulled her arms out of the t-shirt.

    ¡°Hurry up Sarah!¡±

    Sarah was still trying to brush her hair.

    ¡°Come on, they¡¯ll wash it again and brush it out anyway.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes and threw the brush on the vanity. She was halfway down the stairs when she had to run back upstairs to grab her phone from her desk. By the time she got downstairs her mother already had her medication out for her and glass of water. Sarah grabbed the pills and washed them down with the water. Her mother threw her the water bottle of milk she¡¯d already pre-filled. Sarah reached for a muffin. Her mother slapped her hand.

    ¡°Not in my car you don¡¯t, you¡¯re one big mess when you eat, that¡¯s what you are.¡±

    ¡°Mum! I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re like a tornado, nothing stays clean when you¡¯re whipping through.¡±

    Sarah pouted and drank her milk as they rode in her mother¡¯s SUV.

    ¡°How did your history exam go?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°How should I know? It¡¯s not like its marked yet.¡±

    Her phone vibrated and it was the google chat from her history teacher letting the class know their marks were posted. She opened the private window and smiled when she saw the mark and his comment on her essay. I¡¯m not going to tell you, you¡¯re wrong because I know you already tested this on some sort of simulation to make sure you were right. Good job, brilliant writing! A+ Congrats on State Championship win!

    ¡°Is that from a boy?¡±

    ¡°No! Eew¡­ it was my history teacher telling us our marks were posted.¡±

    ¡°I am assuming by the smile you did well?¡±

    ¡°I did okay. I passed.¡±

    ¡°Passed? My Sarah happy with merely passing.¡±

    ¡°I got A+ on exam and in the class.¡±

    ¡°Who knew my girl was a civil war history buff what a nerd.¡±

    ¡°Am not mum!¡±

    ¡°Who else gets an A+ on an American civil war history class?¡±

    ¡°I just know he¡¯s a big civil war re-enactor, so I tailored my answer to appeal to him.¡±

    ¡°You know, you sound like a lawyer sometimes. I bet you¡¯d be a good one, maybe even get all the way to the supreme court.¡±

    ¡°Eew no! Boring! I¡¯m going to play hockey for the Scottish Olympic team.¡±

    Her mother laughed.

    ¡°Oh, are you? Why didn¡¯t you accept the invitation to the AAA Bantam hockey team in the fall?¡±

    ¡°You and dad would have had an impossible time getting me to practice in the morning and after school. You can¡¯t do that and work.¡±

    ¡°A parent will do a lot of things to make their child¡¯s dream come true.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have no time for the twins.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making excuses my wee lass.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes.

    ¡°The thought of waking up at four-thirty in the morning to go practice hockey and skating then having to go to school afterwards then practice more didn¡¯t appeal to me. And it was a boys¡¯ team.¡±

    ¡°What does it say about how good you are at that sport that a AAA boys¡¯ team was trying to get you to join?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°That was it wasn¡¯t it? It was a boys¡¯ team?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Sarah, you have a chance to be great, don¡¯t let some girl teasing you slow you down. She¡¯s just trying to drag you down to her level because you¡¯re so much smarter and prettier than her.¡±

    ¡°Mum, at this point I doubt they would need to give me a different changing room. She¡¯s not wrong.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you say that Sarah Elspeth MacCloud. You¡¯re a highland girl, act like it.¡±

    Sarah looked out the window tears forming in her eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it m¨¤thair.¡±

    Her mother glanced at her then back to the road. Sarah could tell she wanted to scold her for mixing English and Gaelic, but her face softened when she saw the tears. Sarah wiped the tears away and leaned her head on the window watching the Phoenix streets pass by.

    ¡°I forget you are just a teenager sometimes. I had it easy, we had a different way of doing things in Britain then these Americans. There, if you hauled off and hit someone it was done and over with, here you get arrested. You¡¯ve had to learn to suppress your fiery Scottish temper, smile and nod and just take it. You are a strong girl, Sarah. In your own way. I just wish you could be like you are on the ice, or the field. I see you there and your team is looking up to you. Not the coach, but you. They know if they listen to you, they¡¯ll win, and they do. You come off the field and all of a sudden someone calls you a name and you¡¯re a wreck. What happens when they do it on the field?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s part of the game. They¡¯re trying to get in my head like I get in theirs.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s what this girl Candace is doing, do what you do on the field.¡±

    ¡°Mom it¡¯s not the same. On the ice its part of the game we check each other its done. This has been two years straight of her just picking at me and when I fight back it gets worse.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±

    ¡°Okay sweetie. What about this Ms. Thomas? Your dad told me about the call yesterday. Why didn¡¯t you call me? You know he¡¯s busy.¡±

    ¡°Because I needed moral support, not a thermal nuclear warhead launch.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not like that.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are mom. You totally are. You would have hung up and been calling the school then the board then the superintendent, then his boss¡­I¡¯m sorry her boss. You would have been five steps into your war on Ms. Thomas and I would still be sobbing and trying to get out of my panic attack.¡±

    Her mom shifted uncomfortably.

    ¡°Well, she had no right to talk to you like that. We fought hard to get you that adaptive learning plan I¡¯m not going to let some glaikit guidance counselor take that away from you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t call you mom, I needed support, not vindication. I love you mom, but I call you when I need someone to get mad for me. I call dad when everything is out of control and I need something to hang on too.¡±

    Her mom drove in silence. Sarah looked her and bit her nail.

    ¡°Mom, I¡­didn¡¯t mean anything by it.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re right. Sometimes I get mad and go full momma bear and I forget that you might need a mom, not a momma bear.¡±

    She pulled into the strip mall. They were going to a business owned by someone at their church, she was also from Scotland. When the three of them got going there was no way anyone else in the salon would have a clue what they were saying. Another lady, Mariah, who was working there who also went to church with them shook her head at them.

    ¡°Now I know you girls are speaking English, but I do not understand half the words coming out of your mouths.¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Should see when you get a wedding full of us half drunk.¡±

    Mariah laughed.

    ¡°Aye, the Irish have nothin¡¯ on us. Do you want your nails done Sarah? We could put some acrylics on.¡±

    ¡°No thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°At least let us use some polish.¡±

    Sarah gave a small shrug. The older woman smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lass. Mariah let¡¯s get her looking like she¡¯s the ten she is, yea?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s possible, she¡¯s already a ten, not sure what we can do make that better.¡±

    Sarah blushed and by the time she was leaving she did feel like a ten.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going to look so beautiful in your dress, lass. You better take some pictures M¨°rag.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I will Skye.¡±

    Sarah stood up and look at herself in the mirror. Her platinum blonde hair was done up in a beautiful lose knot and it was curled in big curls down to the small of her back. Her hair was naturally thick so the was no frizz in the sun it looked like silver she smiled her nail polish was also silver. The eye liner made her eyes look almost silver too.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Aye, lass you look just like an angel. The black dress your mother told me about is going to be amazing.¡±

    Skye put her hand to her chest.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to break some hearts. Are you wearing heels?¡±

    Sarah blushed and shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m already a giant.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense, you¡¯re a tall girl, built solid, use it to your advantage. Go taller.¡±

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I do have those silver heals from the Christmas party last year; Our feet are the same size Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Mom, no I couldn¡¯t those were so expensive.¡±

    Her mother put her hands on her shoulders and stood on her tip toes to peer over her right one.

    ¡°And they have sat in my closet for six months and collected dust.¡±

    Sarah nodded and gave a small shrug.

    ¡°Oh Skye, Mariah did you hear? Sarah won MVP at the state championship game last night.¡±

    ¡°Oh Sarah, look at you. Beautiful and a star football player.¡±

    Mariah looked at Sarah in disbelief.

    ¡°Wait, she plays football?¡±

    Sarah smiled.

    ¡°They¡¯re talking about Soccer. I¡¯m not allowed to play American Football the boys are too scared of me.¡±

    Mariah giggled.

    ¡°You go get them girl! You are looking fine.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s mother took care of the bill, she knew it was expensive and she felt bad, but her mother noticed her look and waved her hand dismissively. When they got in the SUV Sarah pulled on her seat belt and looked over to her mother.

    ¡°Thanks mom, I feel pretty.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes a girl just needs to get their hair done.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you made me sing Griogal Cridhe in the full.¡±

    ¡°You do it so beautifully.¡±

    ¡°I will never sing it as well as you mom.¡±

    ¡°You will sing it in your own way when you have children. And they will sing it to their children in their own way.¡±

    Sarah blushed slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I want children.¡±

    Sarah gulped; Those are six words you don¡¯t say to a Scottish mother. The expected condemnations never came.

    ¡°You¡¯re young yet.¡±

    Sarah let the matter slide. She smiled at her reflection in the passenger window touching the reflection of her glossy lips. No one could say she didn¡¯t look like a girl now. They could try but they¡¯d be stretching it. She wondered how many boys would be upset they didn¡¯t think to ask her to the grad party.

    ¡°What¡¯s got you so quiet?¡±

    ¡°I was just thinking, well wondering how many boys are going to feel bad they didn¡¯t ask me to the grad party.¡±

    ¡°All of them. You are a bonnie lass, even without this.¡±

    Sarah sighed wistfully, they finally arrived at her school. Her brothers and father were already there. Her father held his chest when he saw her. Looked at her mother.

    ¡°Surely this bonnie lass isn¡¯t my Sarah.¡±

    Sarah blushed. Her brothers were nine and they looked up at her. Malcom and Blair. Blair narrowed his eyes. He was always the brattiest of the two Malcom was the quiet.

    ¡°Okay, you look good sis.¡±

    Sarah ruffled his hair. Malcom nodded. The grad ceremony wasn¡¯t anything exciting. She received her diploma. Several of the boys from her year gawked at her. She¡¯d never bothered to put make up on or do more than a ponytail with her hair. Candace didn¡¯t say anything at all, and Hana couldn¡¯t stop talking about her hair. She said her goodbyes to her teammates which was the majority of the crowd she hung out with which was probably why she didn¡¯t run into many boys. Her crowd was more interested in sports then dating. She spent the afternoon pacing not wanting to sit and risk her hair. Eventually it was time to get dressed so she did. She had picked a black dress that for once wasn¡¯t baggy, it hugged her form and showed up the small amount of chest she had developed so far and her hips. It also showed off her calves. She¡¯d always been embarrassed by them because she thought her toned muscles made her look to boy-like. She didn¡¯t let it bother her today she felt like a bonnie lass for once. She put on the silver and ruby necklace her grandmother had left her. She took one last look at herself in the mirror before heading down the stairs where her parents were waiting. Her brothers took a break from their video game to look too.

    ¡°She¡¯s wearing a dress!¡±

    Her mother poked him in the forehead.

    ¡°Of course, she is.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we ever saw her in a dress. It¡¯s weird.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have anything nice to say don¡¯t say it at all Blair Liam MacCloud.¡±

    He shrugged and went back to his video game. Malcom gave her a small wave before joining him. With the heels which were not that high, she was almost five ten and that put as taller than her father and she basically towered over her mother.

    ¡°Oh Sarah. You look magical.¡±

    ¡°Thanks mom. But you have to say that you¡¯re my mom.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t, if you look like a sack of trash, I¡¯ll tell you so.¡±

    Sarah smiled at her.

    ¡°Ah, Scottish parents always there to point out your shortcomings and tell you look like shi-.¡±

    ¡°Do not finish that sentence Sarah Elspeth MacCloud!¡±

    Sarah¡¯s father laughed.

    ¡°You have your mother¡¯s wit.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s mother was waving her hand in her face she shoved her phone at Sarah¡¯s father.

    ¡°Liam take a picture before I start crying.¡±

    Sarah put her around her mother¡¯s shoulder and smiled for the picture.

    ¡°Now one of us ye hen.¡±

    Her dad offered the phone to her mother and Sarah struck the same pose.

    ¡°Go on you two, get.¡±

    Her mother basically shoved them out the door and her father opened the door to his pickup truck for her and she got in. He pulled out and started driving and was quite for a few minutes, but he kept glancing at her.

    ¡°Now¡­ I know these grad parties can get a bit wild, but just because there is beer there doesn¡¯t mean you need to drink it, this isn¡¯t Scotland it¡¯s not legal for you to drink.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fourteen dad it¡¯s not legal for me to drink in Scotland either.¡±

    ¡°Look I was your age once and we lads, oh we would get right drunk.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in drinking or doing anything with boys that involves clothes coming off Dad.¡±

    ¡°Well good, glad we had this talk.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

    ¡°Dinnae dae that now you mom¡¯s gonna think I have a girlfriend on the side. Lipstick on my cheek. Your mom is a right scary lass.¡±

    ¡°And she knows where we keep the knives and where you sleep. Better sleep with one eye open.¡±

    Her father playfully punched her arm.

    ¡°You have her wit you do. I just can¡¯t get over how grown up you are. Starting grade nine next year, playing senior sports. Soon you¡¯ll be asking for my keys and going off to university back home.¡±

    Sarah smiled at him.

    ¡°You still have me for four years dad. Better make sure you embarrass me a bit more I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve reached my mental scarring quota yet.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t call me by ten for a pickup I¡¯m walking in there and carrying you out.¡±

    ¡°There you go, that would do it, I¡¯d have enough childhood trauma to hire a therapist and not feel like I was wasting my money.¡±

    ¡°Give her here.¡±

    He motioned and he hugged her.

    ¡°Have fun Sarah-bear.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you at ten daddy-monster.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my bonnie lass now get out of here. Have fun. But not as much fun as your mom would have.¡±

    Sarah got out of the truck and walked to the door of the graduation dinner/dance/party. She went to enter and one of the boys who was acting as a doorman reached out his hand without looking and then looked up seeing abdomen he paused.

    ¡°Do you even-¡±

    He looked up and saw Sarah¡¯s face.

    ¡°Oh, woah, Hi Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Hi Toby.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in a dress.¡±

    ¡°Yes. It is formal attire required, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I mean you look good. Just go on inside.¡±

    Toby was blushing. Sarah walked inside. She looked for Hana and spotted her with her date. She walked across the floor she noticed she was the only girl wearing heels, not even Candace had done it. She had a moment pause but then she gave mental screw it and kept going over to Hana.

    ¡°Holy shit. You actually wore a dress. The team had a bet. Damn it I just lost ten bucks.¡±

    ¡°What would make you think I wouldn¡¯t wear a dress?¡±

    ¡°This is the literally the first time you haven¡¯t been in pants or shorts. No skirts no dresses.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not helping my self-esteem.¡±

    ¡°With legs like those you should be helping everybody else with their self-esteem.¡±

    Her date was staring at Sarah slack-jawed Hana elbowed him.

    ¡°Put your tongue back in your mouth.¡±

    He blinked and picked up his empty punch glass and hurried away.

    ¡°Well, you have done it Sarah. You have officially made every single boy in our year regret treating you like one of the boys.¡±

    Sarah sat down. Three more girls for the team sat down with them none had dates. Hana¡¯s date turned around abruptly when he approached and saw the girl jocks congregating. He finally sat down when the food came out, he had no choice. He ate his food quietly and looked like he was at a table full of nuns and too scared to say anything in case he might offend their sensibilities. The girls were in a heated debate about whether the US women¡¯s team could win the world championship this year when Sarah felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. It was Richard he was one of the football players who frequented the weight room trying to bulk up and would shout encouragement as more weight was put on a bar and she was trying to lift it. It was a game the boys played to see who was the strongest. Sarah was further developed at least in the muscle department so was still crushing it most of the time.

    ¡°Hey Sarah¡­I¡­ you look good¡­ do you want to maybe dance?¡±

    One of her teammates nudged her Sarah was kind of staring up at him. She was just as guilty as the boys as treating herself like she was one of them sometimes, so she was confused for a brief moment, but she nodded and they danced to the slow dance that was playing.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t recognize you at first tonight, Sarah. I thought you were someone¡¯s date they brought from another school. I don¡¯t want to sound¡­ well like an ass, but you should wear a dress more often you look good in them.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°We watched the soccer game, we were cheering for you. You crushed them so bad. It was kind of brutal to watch.¡±

    ¡°We had a good team.¡±

    ¡°No, they had you, same as hockey. Glad you decided to play this year. We couldn¡¯t have won the championship without you.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me.¡±

    ¡°It was mostly you; We suck. You spent a whole Saturday showing us how to stop properly and how to hit someone without getting called on no contact. Then another Saturday showing us how to take a slapshot. Mr. Cane is fine but seriously he is no hockey star. That¡¯s why you were captain of the team.¡±

    Sarah blushed again.

    ¡°And he also can¡¯t quite curse like you can, I mean when you start cutting into someone for being an idiot you got a whole new level of making someone feel dumb.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be it doesn¡¯t feel like you¡¯re talking down to people, just sounds like you¡¯re upset because you know they can do better.¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m so amazing why didn¡¯t anyone ask me to grad?¡±

    ¡°Well, I thought of it, but then I was like nah, she¡¯s too cool for that. She¡¯ll say no, or she¡¯ll say¡­Dinnae be a numpty ye daft bawbag. Did I get that right?¡±

    Sarah giggled.

    ¡°Aye, but I probably wouldn¡¯t have said daft.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean anyway?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot you silly ballsack.¡±

    He coughed a bit.

    ¡°You mean you were calling us all ballsacks at practice.¡±

    She looked down at him.

    ¡°You¡¯re all boys aren¡¯t you? You were all being idiot boys. So, I called you numpty bawbags. With numpty its less insulting, it¡¯s sort of like what I¡¯d say to my brother if he say tripped because he was running where he wasn¡¯t supposed to. I¡¯d call him a numpty. I probably wouldn¡¯t call him a bawbag, my mom¡¯d box my ears after calling me by my full name.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s like when friends are teasing each other.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But daft is more of a British thing, mostly British.¡±

    ¡°But Scotland is part of Britain.¡±

    ¡°See them¡¯s fighting words ye numpty bawbag. That¡¯s the kind of thing that gets you beat up in a pub.¡±

    He smiled.

    ¡°You knew that didn¡¯t you. You were baiting me.¡±

    ¡°I might have been, I saw how mad you got when Mr. Teague forgot Scotland had declared independence. Oh, the best was when that Coyote¡¯s player said cheerio yea cunt, God save the queen just before he beat you in that face off. I have never seen someone hit the ice that hard. Bet you thought it was worth the penalty.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°Okay, one question when your girl teammates are being idiots what do you say?¡±

    Sarah narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°Richard did you ask me to dance so you could get free Scottish insult lessons?¡±

    ¡°No, I asked you to dance because you¡¯re the prettiest girl here. I¡¯m just using the Scottish lessons as an excuse to keep going.¡±

    Sarah blushed. The danced to the next song for a while. They were pretty close together and Sarah was enjoying it a lot, so was Richard. When the song ended, he started to pull away she pulled his hand back.

    ¡°I¡¯d call them daft fuds.¡±

    ¡°See you would say daft. What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    ¡°Basically, silly vaginas. It¡¯s not really sexist, not like calling someone cunt here would be, and cunt is kind of the same thing, just more vulgar. Like where¡¯s the coat check in, someone might say, that cunt over there¡¯s got it. Could be a man or a woman.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re awesome. I bet you could go a full conversation insulting me in English I¡¯d still think you were telling me how great I was.¡±

    Sarah laughed. She tugged his arm gently.

    ¡°Come sit with us, you know we only bite other teams.¡±

    He laughed and motioned to the rest of the gym rats who came over with them. The table was full and poor Eddie who was the quiet, shy one of the school. Hana being the social butterfly she was, had dragged him into the conversation kicking and screaming. As it turned out everyone present was currently addicted to the same streamed show that was coming out weekly. Richard was sitting next to Sarah and she kept finding his hand on her somewhere, or her hand on him somewhere. When it hit her time to call for a ride, she hugged Hana and said her goodbyes. She texted her dad and was waiting for him outside, it was Phoenix in the summertime it¡¯s not like it was going to be cold. She heard the doors open behind her and she glanced back it was Richard he had his hands in his pockets and was looking at her through his bangs. He was one of the few football players that had them the rest went for shorter hair. He hesitated for a few seconds then walked up to her.

    ¡°I was wondering if you want to go¡­ out or something sometime, just coffee?¡±

    ¡°Are you asking me out on a date Richard?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re saying yes, I am?¡±

    She shoved him playfully. He gave her a playful shove and they found themselves close together and their lips met. Her first kiss and it sent tingles through her. It wasn¡¯t a long passionate movie kiss, more like a quick nervous peck on the lips but it was long enough for her dad to see, and she blushed so badly when he yelled.

    ¡°Dinnae stop now just cause your dad¡¯s here.¡±

    Sarah was beet red and so was Richard.

    ¡°Sorry, text me. This is so embarrassing.¡±

    She pulled away from him and their hands lingered together, and she got in the truck and was staring firmly at the truck¡¯s dashboard.

    ¡°How was the dance?¡±

    She white knuckled her clutch and was staring hard at that dashboard. She was a mix of furious and butterflies. Her first kiss and with someone she never would have suspected was interested in her. She was also embarrassed for life.

    ¡°Aw dinnae be like that Sarah.¡±

    She just kept staring at the dashboard caught between being furious and feeling on top of the world.

    ¡°He looks like a good lad; Do you know him well?¡±

    She looked out the window, thinking he might take the hint. He sighed and waved his hand dismissively. She shook her head; It was just her dad being a Scottish dad. She looked towards him and she dressed him down in Gaelic her word choices leaving no doubt for what she thought of his antics.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that dad. It was mean.¡±

    He shifted uncomfortably in his car seat tugging on his seat belt. She¡¯d deliberately used Gaelic because when her mother was right pissed off, she would use it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sarah-Bear.¡±

    She continued in Gaelic.

    ¡°You better be dad.¡±

    He sunk into his seat a bit and focused on the road. As predicted the Gaelic had sufficiently chastised him without her having to yell. She leaned her head on the window. Even as embarrassed as her dad had made her, she was on top of the world. Her phone buzzed it was Hana sending a bunch of thumbs up emojis she smiled at it and sent a kiss emoji and in return she received a hands-on cheeks shocked emoji. She let her hand fall to her side, and she got another text she was going to assume it was Hana but she checked and it was Richard he¡¯d sent her a video of him doing the Les Grossman dance. She nearly coughed she laughed so hard. She texted back, Never, do that again the world has enough darkness in it. His response was slow in coming but was just single sad panda face. She sent rolling smiling face and then a devil emoji. She was expecting more emoji but it was words: Thank you for saying yes. She touched the text and blushed.

    ¡°You kids and those phones these days.¡±

    Sarah slid it back into her clutch and snapped it shut.

    ¡°You know when we wanted to talk, we¡¯d-.¡±

    She cut him off still speaking in Gaelic.

    ¡°Walk uphill both ways in the snow to their house and you would talk in person like civilized folks?¡±

    ¡°Well yes.¡±

    She kept up with the Gaelic.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯d still be talking to them in person, but my dad told me if I didn¡¯t call for a ride home before 10 he¡¯d carry me out to his truck.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry dinnae know you¡¯d have so much fun; I was giving you an excuse to cut and run. You usually hate these things; You only ever liked your hocky banquets.¡±

    ¡°I grew up dad.¡±

    He pulled into their driveway and Sarah hopped out and kicked off her heels and scooped them up and rushed inside leaving her dad staring after her. She was still pissed off. Her mother watched her run past and up the stairs from the kitchen and shook her head. Sarah heard her laying into her father in Gaelic. The first question being.

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    Sarah lost the rest over the conversation when she shut her door and started getting out of her dress. She heard a knock on her door in response she connected her phone to her Bluetooth speaker and turned the volume up. She was feeling like avoiding that conversation, so she put on the Black Sabbath Paranoid album and started jumping to it as she cleaned the makeup off her face. Her head was almost head banging to it as she threw on her PJs and leaned her phone on the vanity and started to a video and started lip syncing to the current song which was Paranoid. She was dancing and getting into using her toothbrush as a microphone she finished the song and sent the video to Richard. She brushed her teeth and saw her phone vibrating she looked at it like it might bite her. She wasn¡¯t sure why she¡¯d done it in the first place she was regretting it and wondering if she could take it back. She reached down and picked up the phone toothbrush in her mouth. It had a text from Richard. Holy shit who is that? That was baller! She hit share on the album from her music app and sent it to him. A few minutes later she got a devil finger¡¯s emoji. She smiled and laid in bed after fluffing her pillow.

 Earth 2 - June 2026 - The Video

    Sarah woke with a jolt to her phone alarm she hit her head on her headboard and she swore a stream of curse words under her breath that would make a sailor blush, like any good Scottish girl. When she hit her alarm there were like fifty million texts waiting for her, but she didn¡¯t have time she had kung fu class and she was already late getting ready. She rushed into the bathroom and tied her hair back and threw on shorts and a t-shirt along with one of her sports bras that was almost wholly unnecessary. She picked a white t-shirt to go under her uniform. She rushed downstairs gym bag over her shoulder her phone left forgotten on her desk.

    ¡°Dad, we¡¯re late!¡±

    He was reading the paper and looked at her like she was nuts.

    ¡°Kung fu!¡±

    He nearly fell out of his chair when he hopped up. He drove to her class and when she was running in to get changed, she nearly ran over Candace who was coming out of the dance studio next door. She pointed at Sarah and laughed. Sarah was in too much of a rush to care what she was on about. She barely made it to her spot before the lesson started. They were working on the wooden trainers as usual, practicing there strikes faster and harder. Sarah was in the zone and doing good then her mind drifted to Candace and her shrill laughter. She swore mentally she hadn¡¯t taken her pills her day was basically screwed she sighed and continued hitting the training dummy. She imagined it was Candace. She kept striking it harder and harder. She was in the moment and though they don¡¯t tend to use them here she did kiai as her arm shattered one of the thick wooden pegs. She let out another louder one and her punch cracked the main body of the training dummy. She had been so focused on hitting it harder she had lost all track of what was going on around her. The whole class was staring at her. She looked down at her bloodied fist and her blood-stained uniform. Her master bowed to her she bowed to him. He leaned forward.

    ¡°Good strength, good power, good speed, bad control. Go get patched up.¡±

    He called out.

    ¡°Nancy!¡±

    The older woman who worked the front desk popped in.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Help her take care of her injuries please.¡±

    Nancy motioned for Sarah to follow her, and she did after glancing back at the remains of the training dummy. She¡¯d broken all of the pegs and the top was starting to split apart. Her master looked at her as she went, then back to the training dummy. Sarah sat down in a chair in the back office and pulled her uniform off. Her arm was bloody from how hard she had been hitting the pegs and her hands were both bleeding on the knuckles. Nancy pulled on some gloves and started wiping them down with rubbing alcohol. Sarah winced it.

    ¡°Just sit still Sarah, I¡¯ll get you patched up. You¡¯re not the first one that¡¯s come through here bloody from those things. Don¡¯t know why you can¡¯t just use punching bags.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault. Forgot my meds. Lost track of what I was doing. How much does one of those cost?¡±

    She waved her hand.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, it¡¯s a write off. They do break after a while. It was just weak, was old and dry.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I glanced in to see what all the ruckus was about you were hitting it pretty hard, and you looked really mad. Want to talk about it?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Were you picturing it as someone?¡±

    Sarah blushed and nodded.

    ¡°Boy or girl?¡±

    ¡°Bully.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s better to take it out on a piece of wood then them in this day and age.¡±

    Sarah nodded Nancy finishing wrapping her arm and her knuckles.

    ¡°It¡¯s not all better it¡¯s going to hurt for a while, but you won¡¯t bleed everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you broke anything, or you¡¯d be screaming in pain but maybe a doctor wouldn¡¯t hurt if you have insurance.¡±

    Sarah nodded and stood up picking up her uniform top. She went to the locker room and the other students watched her pass. She had kneed the target a few times and she could see bruises forming on them. She sighed and pulled up her shorts then dug in her bag for her phone. She panicked because it was nowhere to be found. Did someone steal it? She rushed out and class was still going. She knocked Nancy¡¯s door.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am can I use your phone to call my dad.¡±

    She nodded.

    Sarah pressed the number in, and it rang a few times.

    ¡°Nancy is everything alright?¡±

    ¡°Its me dad, I need a ride, can¡¯t find my phone.¡±

    ¡°You still have an hour of class.¡±

    ¡°I got hurt, Master Winston said I could pick it up next week.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a few bruises.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be right there.¡±

    ¡°Thanks dad.¡±

    She hung up the phone.

    ¡°Thank you, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Feel better hon.¡±

    Sarah nodded and went out front. She paced back and forth and a couple of girls in the grade behind were walking downside walk one put her hand her mouth and she was giggle. Sarah narrowed her eyes. She wondered what the heck was going on. Her father parked on the street, and she jumped in. He looked at her wrapped knuckles and her arm.

    ¡°A few bruises?¡±

    ¡°Aye dad.¡±

    ¡°Those dinnae look like ¡®bruises¡¯¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I just split my skin a bit.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°When your mom sees that there is going to be hell to pay, I think I¡¯ll go to the office and get some work done this afternoon.¡±

    Sarah leaned her head on the window. She was starting to ache now.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who signed me up for two separate martial arts.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to make sure you could protect yourself.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like there are creepy old men around each corner waiting to grab me.¡±

    Her dad shrugged.

    ¡°Still some boy gets handsie with you, now you can break it.¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes. She put her uniform in the laundry sink and started scrubbing the blood out. She thought she had done a passible job and tossed it in the hamper. Her mother was humming away in the kitchen doing whatever her mother did. She avoided the whole conversation about her injuries by going to her room. She was laying on her bed waiting for the painkillers she took to kick in before she could type or even lift her phone. She heard her name shrieked from downstairs.

    ¡°Why is their blood on your uniform?¡±

    Sarah put her pillow over her face and grimaced. Her door opened a few moments later. Her mother had her still damp uniform top in her hand, and she was pointing to some blood Sarah had missed near the end of the sleeve.

    ¡°Give your arm here!¡±

    Her mother tossed the blanket off of Sarah and gasped.

    ¡°Who did that to you?¡±

    Sarah rolled her eyes.

    ¡°I did mom!¡±

    ¡°You dinnae run past your mother and not tell her about this. You¡¯re covered in bruises, and your knuckles is that blood? I knew that Kung Fu horse shit was for the dogs. You shouldn¡¯t be hitting solid wood with your fists!¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Mom I just forgot to take my pills and I wasn¡¯t paying attention it was my fault.¡±

    Her mother leaned out of the room and was shouting Gaelic now.

    ¡°Liam you let your daughter go into a place that was dangerous and you didn¡¯t remember to get her to take her meds!¡±

    There was no answer. Her mother stormed down the stairs on the warpath. The next thing Sarah heard was her mother cursing in Gaelic. Sarah heard her walking back her way.

    ¡°That man will be the death of me!¡±

    Her head popped into the room.

    ¡°Dinnae think I forgot about you, Sarah Elspeth MacCloud!¡±

    She was waving the now clean uniform top around.

    ¡°Sneaking in like a wee little mouse, scrubbing this so I wouldn¡¯t see the blood. I¡¯ll not abide sneaks in my house young lass.¡±

    Sarah pulled her pillow back over her face. It was yanked off. Sarah pondered if her mother was ranting at her in English to show how serious she was or not. There wasn¡¯t much else she could do. Her mother was a force nature when she was angry.

    ¡°You know you need to take your meds Sarah Elspeth MacCloud! You dinnae say a single word to me last night when you came home. You ignored me knocking on your door you keep this up you won¡¯t have one you wee boggart.¡±

    Sarah nodded a few times.

    ¡°Do ye have anything to say for yourself?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry mom.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s start.¡±

    She started swearing under breath in Gaelic again and shaking her head.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t over by a long shot Sarah.¡±

    Sarah waited for her to leave. She glanced at her phone. She had so many notifications she didn¡¯t know where to start so as she usually did with such a task when she was off her meds, she just didn¡¯t bother starting. She threw it on her bed and opened her computer. And started surfing through videos. She ended up seeing one on her feed that her friend Kim had sent her in grade six. She realized that she hadn¡¯t heard from her in a while and flipped to her social media and started looking for her on her friends list. She was there but¡­no posts from her. She was active. She went to send her a message saw all of her posts and messages had been muted. She narrowed her eyes and started looking for other friends from Minneapolis they had all be muted. She started to panic a little she didn¡¯t remember doing that. Then she remembered her dad had helped set up all her social media accounts when she was ten and eleven. She was ready to go yell at her mom about it when she saw notification. It was from Hana. R U OK. Been blowin¡¯ up your phone. Then I hear you have bandages on your wrists? Answer pls!  Sarah looked at her phone. She was completely confused. She typed an answer I¡¯m fine hurt myself at Kung fu. The reply came quickly: Thk Gawd. LoL was so scrd af that thing Candace psted. Sarah blinked a few times and replied, What, did she post? She couldn¡¯t help wondering why she couldn¡¯t just type like a normal human. There was a long pause. Here.

    A deep-fake it video of Sarah and Richard and she was wearing a suit and he was wearing a dress she had an adam¡¯s apple. With the comment Fixed. Sarah¡¯s fists clenched and she started having one of her panic attacks. The computer started sparking she didn¡¯t react she was long past caring she was so angry. She just wanted to hurt it and anything to do with that video. The computer exploded with sparks, and it slowly crumpled into a dense ball of metal and plastic then fire erupted from it burning Sarah¡¯s hand which snapped her out of her rage and she started screaming and patting out her bandages. Her mother rushed up and then ran out and came back with a fire extinguisher and spray the desk until it went out. They were coughing and her mother opened her window and pulled her and her brothers out of the house. Sarah was having one of her panic attacks they were far worse when she hadn¡¯t taken her medication. Her mother was saying just calm down, but it wasn¡¯t working when has telling someone to calm down ever worked?

    Her father¡¯s truck screeched into the driveway. He didn¡¯t even bother turning it off. He rushed over to Sarah and he touched her shoulder.

    ¡°Sarah-bear what¡¯s next?¡±

    Sarah looked up at him tears dropping down her cheeks and she was gasping for breath.

    ¡°Breath.¡±

    He touched her arm then he did his overexaggerated breaths

    ¡°Then breath. In¡­. out¡­ In¡­ out¡­ That¡¯s it Sarah-Bear hold onto my voice.¡±

    Sarah started to breath normally again.

    ¡°Good, good, now what¡¯s next?¡±

    She still had tears falling down her cheeks.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°How about we take you to the hospital to get that burn fixed.¡±

    Sarah looked down and some of her left hand and forearm were burned severely. She screamed as the pain hit her. He put his arms on her shoulders.

    ¡°Sarah-Bear you¡¯re alright, we¡¯re alright. Mom will take your brothers into the house you and I will go to the hospital. They¡¯ll get you sorted out. Just breath, I know it hurts just breath.¡±

    Sarah nodded and let her father guide her to the still running truck. She blanked out the ride to the hospital the pain was blinding. It was a slow night, and she didn¡¯t take long to see a doctor. She was almost having troubles putting what happened into words, so her dad spoke for her.

    ¡°She was working on her laptop and it burst into flames. Think her battery went up.¡±

    She lost the rest of the conversation because one of the nurses or doctors gave her something and she fell asleep. By the time she woke she was in her bed at home. The remains of the computer were long gone, and she has some thick bandages on her arm. She hurt everywhere. She was still in her shorts and t-shirt from the day before she groaned and held her head. Her feet touching the floor and the creaking alerted her ever watchful mother who was inside her room before Sarah could reach the bathroom.

    ¡°Are you alright Sarah?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine mom just need to pee!¡±

    Sarah slammed her bathroom door and sat on the toilet she looked down at the thick bandages on her left hand and wrist. She finished and her mother was still outside she had her meds waiting for her with water.

    ¡°It¡¯s Sunday and its summertime I don¡¯t need those.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you do. And here are some painkillers the hospital sent.¡±

    Sarah grumbled and took them she grabbed her phone from her nightstand and unlocked it.

    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea Sarah, hon?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not made of glass mom, I¡¯ll be okay. Hana was thinking I did something drastic yesterday she¡¯s probably sure of it now after my computer burst into flames.¡±

    ¡°Well, if it starts to upset you put it away.¡±

    Sarah gave her mother a look. She was acting weird. Sarah didn¡¯t remember much beyond flaming computer and a video that had pissed her off. What the content of the video was she could not recall. She was swamped with texts, mostly from Hana and Richard. She followed the link that everyone was so angry about, and the video had been taken down. There were a few posts laughing out loud but then things turned, and Candace was getting attacked, a lot and then she saw a post by one of her teammates who takes dance classes with Candace, and it was a gif of her breaking the wooden test dummy with her bare hands. With the comment: Candace do you really want to piss off someone who can do this to a solid chunk of wood? It had so many likes it had gone viral. Sarah sank into her bed her friends had started sending her meme¡¯s people had made. She was stuck between terrified that it was out there and amused by some of them which left her giggle and laughing and crying at the same time. She didn¡¯t know what to feel. Her mother snatched her phone and Sarah was so stuck between absolute devastation she¡¯d gone viral and the hilarity of the memes she didn¡¯t resist.

    ¡°What¡¯s this nonsense? When you wanna punch your mom but can¡¯t?¡±

    Sarah had gone past the tears and started laughing so hard her side hurt.

    ¡°Is this how you hurt yourself?¡±

    Sarah was laughing so hard she was in tears again.

    ¡°Who thought up this rubbish?¡±

    Her mother had scrolled to the top of the comments about the video Candace posted and was pointing at the deleted video message.

    ¡°What did she do?¡±

    Sarah shook her head still laughing.

    ¡°I have no idea mom, but she sure pissed a lot of people off.¡±

    ¡°Why are you laughing, you¡¯re all over the internet bleeding!¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°The meme¡¯s were funny.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re funny.¡±

    She handed the phone back to Sarah when the doorbell ring.

    ¡°For the love of! What now?¡±

    Her mother walked down the stairs. Sarah couldn¡¯t make out whatever they were trying to sell, and she went back to looking at the hundreds of memes that had blossomed overnight. They had some that had replaced the dummy with a person. She heard her mother walking up the stairs. She heard shoes or boots on the wood. Must be something important, people did not walk into her mom¡¯s house with shoes on without getting scolded. She entered the room with two officers. They had their hats off and stuck between their arms and their bodies. Sarah looked at them.

    ¡°Sarah, these two fine officers would like to talk to you about a video that was posted of you and a boy. They are investigating harassment and possible hate crime?¡±

    Sarah blinked.

    ¡°Wow it must have been bad.¡±

    ¡°Well, it was, say what happened to your hands?¡±

    Sarah looked down at her knuckles.

    ¡°I went a bit too hard at Kung Fu yesterday. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t get a chance to see the video. My computer burst into flames as I opened it and it was deleted by the time, I woke up from the pain killers the hospital gave me for the burns¡±

    She lifted her left arm. The closest of the officer looked sympathetic. The other one was looking around her room and paused looking at the charred desk.

    ¡°How bad was it?¡±

    Her mother answered.

    ¡°Just two small third degree burns she got away from it before it really exploded.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what happened?¡±

    ¡°Her dad says it was a probably shorted and overheated the battery then it caught fire and exploded.¡±

    ¡°He took it to his work bench at the office for testing. He¡¯s an electrical engineer.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯ll be much left to test.¡±

    ¡°My dad can do anything with electronics.¡±

    ¡°So, you were here all day?¡±

    ¡°No, I was at Kung fu then I took some pain killers because I was sore. Then of course the hospital. Don¡¯t remember much past sitting at my desk.¡±

    ¡°Any reason you¡¯re asking that question officer?

    ¡°Well, seeing the video made me angry, it would be understandable if it made you angry too Sarah.¡±

    Her mother¡¯s expression changed from curiosity to lawyer before Sarah could blink.

    ¡°I thought this was about the video, what are you fishing for? I think maybe this is over.¡±

    ¡°Now, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Lawyer ma¡¯am to you. Coming into my home under false pretenses oh you better have a good reason, Officer. I¡¯m having lunch with the District Attorney tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°There was an assault, and your daughter is the lead suspect. The victim is known to her and identified her as her attacker. And seeing the wounds on her hands. I think we¡¯re going to have to arrest her.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Sarah, give us your phone, please.¡±

    She made a give me motion with her fingers. Sarah handed it to her, and her mother found the original video and showed them the time and date it was posted.

    ¡°You can see plainly here she is at Kung Fu when she gets those injuries, and I¡¯m pretty sure being in the hospital in surgery for third degree burns is a really good alibi, so with all due respect, get the fuck out of my house ye cunts. Come back when you have probable cause and an arrest warrant. You best talked to the DA about this theory of yours I think she¡¯ll have something to say about it. Now get, you¡¯ve outstayed your welcome.¡±

    She didn¡¯t quite manhandle them because that would be assaulting an officer, but she made it clear they needed to do whatever they were going to do elsewhere. She slammed the door behind them and walked back up to Sarah¡¯s room.

    ¡°Sorry love, did not realize they were here for that.¡±

    ¡°I wonder what happened to Candace.¡±

    ¡°Well, you can be assured whatever it was, she deserved it. I¡¯ll be taking to the DA about the harassment tomorrow at lunch. You just relax hon; You have an ironclad alibi no matter what she says.¡±

    Sarah nodded her mother walked off swearing under her breath in Gaelic as she went. Sarah picked up her phone and took a selfie. With her left hand held up. Where can I get the laptop battery burst into flames and all I got for my trouble was some third degree burns t-shirt? She got several responses all with some form of sympathy attached. She got a private message from Hana and she had said: Did you hear what happened to Candace? Someone broke into room and beat her half to death! Sarah looked at it for a few minutes. I know the police were just here asking if I did it. But I was at hospital with the burns. No response. She was probably at church or something. Sarah started going through Richard¡¯s texts. Mostly they were asking if she was alright apologizing that he¡¯d danced with her. That kind of hurt her. She didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Sorry he danced with me? What the fuck?¡±

    She gave a small growl scream and then put her phone on her nightstand and closed her eyes. The best way to heal was to rest and she felt like it even with the Vyvanse in her system. Must have been the painkillers.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - Sliders Emergency Presidential Briefing (Eyre)

    Eyre got out of the diplomatic limo. She appeared to be in a formfitting black dress that was business appropriate. She had her holo-tablet folded around her wrist. The secret service waved their metal detecting wands over her and verified her ID and motioned her through. She stood while she waited for her meeting. Her high heels made her seem more intimidating than she was. To those observing her she appeared to be a woman in her early thirties. She had long curly red hair, with a grey streak down her left bang and green eyes, her skin was flawless but pale. All gifts from her mother, save the grey streak.

    Her attention was focused on the rounded office door she was waiting by. When it creaked open and several people in military uniforms filed out. Behind them was the woman Eyre had the appointment with. Eyre was motioned inside and the woman closed the door. The woman took a seat behind her desk and opened a drawer and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of aged scotch and poured two drinks sliding one over to Eyre. Eyre picked it up and took a long waft of it before sipping it. She lifted the glass. Eyre¡¯s voice was a mix of sultry and melodic that made her sound almost superhuman with how beautiful it was her accent would be called proper British, almost aristocratic.

    ¡°Impeccable taste as usual madame president.¡±

    ¡°I think we¡¯re past titles now aren¡¯t we Headmistress?¡±

    ¡°I suppose we are.¡±

    ¡°What has my daughter done this time?¡±

    Eyre shook her head while taking another sip of the scotch.

    ¡°Nothing bad, she¡¯s been wonderful, still has no idea you¡¯re aware of her location. We have a working prototype fusion reactor, at a safe location off world, she reverse-engineered the future tech holo-tablets in a day, they¡¯re already in production in our China. She¡¯s looking forward to starting classes at the Academy in the fall. She¡¯s adapting to her new reality excellently; I have no concerns. Her foster parents adore her, and she finished with the highest marks at her school. There was a slight issue where some overeager members of Earth Gov put her in protective custody but I sorted that out.¡±

    ¡°When will she be ready to hear from me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure yet, she¡¯s worried your family will be a target. I¡¯m hoping by fall she¡¯ll come around when she sees the other students talking to their parents. Which reminds me.¡±

    Enid slid two high density memory sticks across the desk.

    ¡°First one is just some videos of her playing sports and some pictures of her with her friends. Oh, and her school picture, the second has the specifications for the fusion reactor and the holo-tablet.¡±

    President Morris took both with a slight nod.

    ¡°Did you come all this way just to deliver these to me?¡±

    ¡°No, unfortunately, I have other business.¡±

    Eyre uncrossed her legs and stood up and pointed to the nearby tv.

    ¡°May I?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡±

    There was a knock on the door and Eyre paused. The president sighed and called out.

    ¡°Enter.¡±

    It was her chief of staff.

    ¡°Madame president, I have some intelligence bri-.¡±

    He stopped when he saw Eyre.

    ¡°Put them on my desk and close the door on your way out, don¡¯t let anyone disturb us, I¡¯m receiving my Slider¡¯s National Security briefing.¡±

    He nodded dropped the folders off and rushed out of the door.

    ¡°Nice you code named us after a tv show from the nineties.¡±

    Eyre shook her head then flipped her holo- tablet out and then motioned towards the TV and the tablet¡¯s image displayed on it.

    ¡°Cool hmm?¡±

    The president nodded and stood up and looked at the image. There was picture of a girl with platinum blonde hair she was tall, young though, looked like she hadn¡¯t hit puberty yet.

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°We have designated her Earth 2 ¨C Subject Theta-2 she is fourteen years old, and we estimate based on observed energy pulses as at least a PL:14, if not higher. In other words, she is very dangerous. Her first manifestation was in Scotland.¡±

    Eyre tapped a file and the picture shifted to the aftermath of a massive pile up of cars that were all been burned up. Save for one which was right by the torn remains of a gas tanker.

    ¡°Note the car by the Petrol truck¡¯s remains. Untouched along with the pavement around it. This was a pile up on a Scottish highway, icy roads and thick fog. Death to-.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m familiar with the accident.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°What you likely aren¡¯t familiar with is what we covered up. The first is the photo of the untouched car. The second is the real casualty list. It was changed from 114 killed, 5 survivors to 114 killed, no survivors.¡±

    ¡°Why weren¡¯t we told about this? I saw no briefing of a super-powered human event associated with that crash. In fact, I have never seen any.¡±

    ¡°That is because the United States of America ¨C Earth 2 is not one of the signatories of the cross-dimensional support agreement. If we can¡¯t rendition people from your country, then you don¡¯t get to see the briefs.¡±

    ¡°I thought we were signed on.¡±

    ¡°No Allison, you¡¯re not. The president who was in power when we first came over thought it would be impinging on the freedoms of your people if the government were to allow a foreign power that legal ability on your land.¡±

    ¡°I have tried with several presidents, but none have wanted to bite.¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m not supposed to get briefings, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I asked permission to share this with you because we¡¯re friends. The reason I wanted you to be aware of this situation is: this girl is in Arizona.¡±

    ¡°She is? How dangerous is she?¡±

    ¡°The field she produced to protect her family at age 6, is a PL9 in and of itself. And let me underline this, she was six. We have never seen a superhuman manifest anything close to even a PL:2 ability before puberty. The next event was in Minneapolis.¡±

    She changed to a new file. An image of a greenhouse showing a man with foot thick vines wrapped around his arms and neck and through his chest. The president turned away. Eyre flipped the image to the next screen. Showing the criminal record for the man a convicted sex offender.

    ¡°If that happened in the US, why was I not informed.¡±

    ¡°You were not president yet.¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°Same child, aged 12, pedophile shows up and isolates her family¡¯s green house. She causes the plants to grow and attack him. She blacks out afterwards, PL13 event. Note she still hasn¡¯t hit puberty at this point.¡±

    ¡°Jesus. That¡¯s an exponential growth in power, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Based on our rating system yes.¡±

    ¡°Just going back to power level ratings, why was the shield that lasted for fifteen minutes that saved them from a gas fire a PL9 and the plants PL13.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a combination of affected entities and speed of effect and strength of effect. In the bubble case, was one car, it was strong PL9. The plants the growth was instant as far as we could tell, so fast he could not react, and it affected fifty-three entities at once. But it was confined to her immediate vicinity. Plants outside the green house were unaffected.¡±

    ¡°Could she create a more powerful shield?¡±

    ¡°In the future, likely yes. Power increases with age up into the twenties.¡±

    ¡°Why is she in the US, I thought your treaty enforced a travel ban.¡±

    ¡°Her father¡­ is from Earth Prime. When the Scottish Independent State notified the family of their intention to turn her over to us at puberty, he fled to the only country he could that had not signed the treaty. The US. When the plant event occurred, he reached out to us to help him clean up the mess.¡±

    ¡°I thought supers were banned from travel here except under specific circumstances.¡±

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°This is a specific circumstance. Liam is a PL1. He understands electronics when he touches them. Useful, but not a dangerous power, basically PL1¡¯s can do what they want we don¡¯t monitor them. He asked for a visa to Scotland they approved he moved here.¡±

    The president nodded.

    ¡°I came, I assisted him with cleaning up the mess with the understanding he would hand her over when it was time. He reneged on his bargain.¡±

    ¡°You covered up a murder?¡±

    ¡°It is hard to convict plants with murder and the US has no standing laws regarding super powered beings using their powers. Again, something we can assist with developing and enforcing once the treaty is signed.¡±

    ¡°I thought we had no naturally occurring powered beings.¡±

    ¡°Not exactly true, one of your corporations has been experimenting with genetic manipulation and has had some success. We¡¯ve had to capture and imprison eighteen so far.¡±

    ¡°So, they could be anyone now?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°I would assume once the genetic manipulations enter the gene pool you will start to see them, nothing on the scale we have but it could become problematic.¡±

    ¡°That is unsettling. Go on.¡±

    Eyre went to the next screen this was a satellite image with a white ring on the photograph centered on a house.

    ¡°We received another PL14 ping from one of our spy satellites which you knew existed.¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Not sure what she did but the signature is identical to the green house. It wasn¡¯t something that registered on news sites. The last two events are unsettling.¡±

    She switched to a video of the girl smashing a wooden training dummy with her bare hands.

    ¡°Possible Superstrength. Not exactly rare, however most super powered beings with the exception of unique things like vampires or werewolves have one thing they do, and they do well, manipulating force, making plants grow, channeling electricity, whatever, they have that one thing they are good at. So far, she has exhibited energy manipulation, rapid plant growth and possible super strength. Again, if you look closely, you¡¯ll note she is still not in the puberty stage.¡±

    ¡°What level is this strength?¡±

    ¡°PL5 at the most, she hurt herself using it her full strength. It means she¡¯s no more durable than a normal human. For now. We do not know what puberty will bring.¡±

    ¡°You said she was fourteen, how has she not hit puberty yet?¡±

    Eyre tapped another file it was a medical record and list of prescriptions.

    ¡°Her parents have been using puberty blockers on her, without her knowledge, also she¡¯s fairly athletic and based on our observation is very physically active and lifts weights that can also interfere with normal development. They also have her on a cocktail of mood stabilizers and ADHD medication.¡±

    ¡°Why the ADHD meds, I am guessing the mood stabilizers are because her power is activated by extreme emotions?¡±

    ¡°You are correct, and the ADHD meds are because she has severe ADHD. She definitely needs those.¡±

    ¡°So, she¡¯s a teenager who has no self-control who has the ability to turn plants into murderous vines?¡±

    ¡°I am not finished yet Allison.¡±

    Eyre tapped another file and moved it to the screen. It was a medical report for a teenage girl with severe trauma to her ribs. The stats were updating real time.

    ¡°Is this real time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my people are very good at their jobs.¡±

    ¡°Did the girl do this?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Well, she does have superstrength.¡±

    ¡°You misunderstand me. This is our subject at her laptop.¡±

    She showed a video of the subject glaring at her screen, and it was obvious she was enraged by something. The image derezzed just after there were sparks and smoke from her computer. The image changed to a video of the injured girl chatting on the phone and all of sudden she is lifted up into the air and seems to be repeatedly get hit by an unseen force. Finally, she¡¯s clutching at her throat. Her chest visibly compressed then she fell to the ground. It looked unfinished. Eyre turned away from it as it kept playing with paramedics rushed in and eventually it was just an empty room Eyre stopped the video.

    ¡°She was four kilometers away.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re sure it was her.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the signature was identical.¡±

    ¡°Jesus. She almost killed that girl.¡±

    ¡°Yes, something stopped her before she could finish her off.¡±

    ¡°Did she do it on purpose?¡±

    ¡°I suspect she isn¡¯t even aware she was doing anything.¡±

    ¡°What rating is that?¡±

    ¡°It is unprecedented. We have people who can remote view, we have no one who can remote view and beat someone up with telekinesis. That kind of control and power at that range is PL13 at least, if not PL14.¡±

    ¡°You have another file there is there more.¡±

    Eyre waved her hand dismissively.

    ¡°She overloaded a computer when her guidance counselor told her she was going to get rid of her ADHD meds and take her off her Adaptive Learning Plan, PL3 a the most. No one was harmed.¡±

    ¡°So, with the exception of that one odd one out, her powers are increasing?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Even if someone is not using their full power, we can still gage it in most cases based on the scans. Each time we¡¯ve seen her she¡¯s been using her full power at her age.¡±

    ¡°And she still hasn¡¯t hit puberty yet?¡±

    ¡°No, she hasn¡¯t, but she will start soon.¡±

    Eyre showed another document, this was one where the doctor who had been supplying the puberty blockers has said he will no longer fill the prescriptions until he has spoken openly to the patient and the patient has undergone a psychological evaluation to discuss when they were going to start transitioning to the opposite sex. The president¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°So, we haven¡¯t seen the worst of it yet?¡±

    ¡°Not even close, Allison, not even close. That girl is going to hit puberty soon like a train going full steam ahead, and nothing is going to slow it down. Because it has been so delayed it is going to hit hard and fast. Her emotional stability will tank, her powers will increase exponentially. You have a walking talking, if, very kind and loving, nuclear weapon on your hands with a very short fuse.¡±

    The president collapsed into her chair putting her hands in her face.

    ¡°We can just grab her, put her somewhere safe, train her. She could be an asset for us.¡±

    Eyre flipped her holo-tablet back into her wrist and put her hands on the desk and leaned down.

    ¡°Allison, you have no idea how to contain this threat. That girl is an innocent in all of this she has no idea what is happening, she hasn¡¯t been educated at all, her parents are in denial. My people are her only chance, and your only chance for you to avoid a superpowered emergence that will set your people down a very dark road. Your people will demand blood for blood. If that girl is as powerful as I think she is, all your tanks, guns, aircraft carriers and nuclear missiles will do nothing to stop her. We¡¯re talking once in a generation power levels here. At least a PL 15.

    ¡°What¡¯s the highest she could be? What would it mean?¡±

    ¡°Then, Allison if you believe in god, I suggest you pray, because if she¡¯s higher than that she has the power to wipe out an entire continent of people.¡±

    The president poured herself another drink.

    ¡°How do you deal with people that powerful?¡±

    ¡°With other people that powerful. Now I¡¯ve done my best to suppress her memories and powers in an attempt to save lives, but she is starting to remember, and I do not think I will be able to fix her again.¡±

    ¡°You can stop her, right?¡±

    ¡°I would be more than a match for her, but you¡¯ve tied my hands by not signing the treaty. And honestly, I would rather not stop her, I would rather educate her. She needs guidance, not an enemy.¡±

    ¡°What set her off this last time?¡±

    Eyre sighed and tapped her wrist and swept a video to the screen. It showed a gender swapped couple with an adam¡¯s apple on the subject dancing with a boy.

    ¡°That was it?¡±

    ¡°That was her first dance with a boy, she also kissed him, her first kiss. Then she saw this, and if I had to guess, two years of girls making fun of her because she wasn¡¯t developing.¡±

    ¡°Jesus, and this is what did it, when she snapped?¡±

    ¡°That and a combination of her puberty blockers being withdrawn.¡±

    ¡°I made laws to prevent that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they need to be enforced. We do so with an iron fist, not something I¡¯m a fan of, but when you have angsty nuclear weapons running around, boys will be boys is not the attitude you want to have for long. To add insult to injury the Phoenix police are trying to charge the subject with attempted murder.¡±

    ¡°Well, she did do it.¡±

    ¡°True, but what do you think is going to happen when they drag that girl to jail and she¡¯s in there with that crowd?¡±

    ¡°Oh Jesus, we can¡¯t let that happen.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re here isn¡¯t it, you want me to sign the treaty.¡±

    ¡°I would love for you to sign the treaty; I have been authorized for observation only otherwise. So, my hands are effectively tied.¡±

    ¡°Your government knows they have me over a barrel.¡±

    ¡°They do.¡±

    ¡°Shit. Shit shit!¡±

    ¡°Look, we are on a tight timeline unless we can get that girl on puberty blockers again and even if we do that may not work anymore. If you were to sign an executive order declaring me a de facto agent of the US government of Earth-2 I can go, there I can grab her, and I can escort her out of the country.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a US citizen, she has rights.¡±

    ¡°This is true, do her rights trump the lives of the eleven million people she¡¯s in the center of? This is why you wear big girl pants Allison. I am doing this because I consider you a friend. Give me authorization to remove her from the USA and I will make this problem go away, I¡¯ll piss off my government because I let you out of signing the treaty, but the girl will be safe, your people will be safe. So, my government can go fuck itself. You know how well your daughter is doing, and that she is safe, I can make that happen for this girl I just need your permission.¡±

    ¡°I want sign the treaty but there is a process a long drawn out, and this kind of threat is what I need.¡±

    ¡°Invite a bipartisan group along with your military leadership to a briefing. Grant me temporary enforcement powers and assign me 2 ICE agents. Make sure they¡¯re gung-ho and agents who like to throw their authority around and I will deliver you a contained crisis.¡±

    ¡°That sounds dubious Eyre.¡±

    ¡°If you give me authorization to bring her in, I can do it without anyone getting hurt too badly. ICE agents like that will be pissed about having a temporary agent with them, they¡¯ll try and shut me out and I¡¯ll let them, then when they inevitably trigger her, I will stop her. I guarantee she will do something to impress on your people how dangerous Supers can be if untrained. And why you want us on your side.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to manufacture a mini-crisis and solve it for me live?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I promise your agents will be mostly unharmed. But they have to be yahoos, or this won¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to say she is?¡±

    ¡°Sinn F¨¦in they are technically still considered a terrorist organization with the US government, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they¡¯re Irish.¡±

    ¡°Do you think two good ole American boys are going to know a Scotsman from an Irishman? Hell, they¡¯ll probably think I¡¯m an Irish Agent. We¡¯ll say the whole family has been radicalized. Those agents will go in there spoiling for a fight. She¡¯ll give them one and then I will save them and her. You¡¯ll get your show and I¡¯ll get the girl.¡±

    ¡°What about her parents? They have rights, they could technically fight this in court.¡±

    ¡°Once the show is over, I¡¯ll deal with them. You¡¯re going to have to trust me.¡±

    ¡°Can you even stop this girl? What can you do anyway?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a PL17-15M, I can handle one teenage girl and two over eager agents.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean?¡±

    ¡°I have the ability to influence a city population and I am an Archmage.¡±

    ¡°And that is?¡±

    ¡°There is only one known magic user who was more powerful than an Archmage and that was my mother, and she¡¯s been reclassified recently, PL20-20T. It means she was capable of self-mobile time travel and could cause an extinction level event.¡±

    Allison coughed on her scotch.

    ¡°There are things that powerful?¡±

    ¡°There are things that are more powerful, thankfully they¡¯re all deceased or not interfering anymore. There are no currently living PL20 beings, there are living PL20-T beings, but that just means they can time travel without need of a device.¡±

    ¡°And they work for you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my sister is one of them.¡±

    ¡°Your Earth Gov has enough resources you could probably just take this girl and all we could do is huff and puff, and wag are fingers at you, why are you bothering even talking to me?¡±

    ¡°Again, because I consider you a friend, and because if I ignore the laws then I am no better than the super villains in my world. I need to respect the rule of law everywhere. Even your laws.¡±

    ¡°But manipulating them is fine?¡±

    ¡°If the laws were written in a way to allow them to be manipulated then so be it, I¡¯ll work within the boundaries they provide.¡±

    ¡°I always knew you were a sly one.¡±

    ¡°So, what do you say?¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll have everything in place for tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°We need to do this after dark.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Head to Phoenix by the time you land your special enforcement powers will be in an executive order.¡±

    ¡°You think I have a plane?¡±

    ¡°I know you do.¡±

    Eyre smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Good luck Madame President.¡±

    ¡°Good luck Acting Agent Eyre Aurelius¡±

 Earth 2 - 2026 - A Manufactured Crisis

    Sarah finally got enough energy to get up and head downstairs to eat supper. Her parents had brought home fish and chips from a local restaurant that in Sarah¡¯s opinion, did it right. She was eating spoon full of mushy peas when the kitchen door was kicked in. At the same time the front door burst open. The men who entered had vests that read ICE in big white letters. One started by throwing her father to the ground. The other one came in through the living room and did the same to her mom. Blair being the bratty shit he was hit one with his plate. The agent threw him to the ground. Sarah could feel the panic rising up in her. The table started shaking. Each agent had a foot on one her parents and one had a gun on Blair who was on the ground crying. The other pointed his rifle at Sarah.

    ¡°Hands up girl.¡±

    Sarah put her hands up. Blair twitched and he hit him. The house was starting to shake now the two agents were looking around. Glasses were clinking together where they sat.

    ¡°On the ground!¡±

    Sarah was in full panic mode her breathing was erratic and when the agent moved to slap Blair again both agents were lifted off the ground and their guns shattered. They were holding their throats and trying to scream. By now things were falling off shelves and the earthquake wasn¡¯t getting any less severe. Sarah was hyperventilating and was completely lost in her panic. The agents were gasping for breath and finally stopped moving. Eyre appeared out of the shadows and slapped Sarah hard across the face. The shock snapped Sarah out of her panic momentarily enough for Eyre to get her attention. Eyre met her gaze and commanded:

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Everything stopped shaking suddenly. The agents fell to the floor. The reprieve was momentary as Sarah started to panic again. Her father spoke calmy to her.

    ¡°Sarah-Bear, what¡¯s next?¡±

    Sarah was looking around the room everything was starting to spin and vibrations in the house grew worse again.

    ¡°Sarah-Bear focus on my voice. What¡¯s next?¡±

    Sarah answered.

    ¡°Breathe.¡±

    ¡°Good, breathe in and out like I taught you. In¡­ out¡­ in¡­ out¡­¡±

    Sarah started to take deep breaths, and everything started to settle once again.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    The vibrations slowly ceased completely. Leaving an odd silence save for everyone¡¯s labored breathing and Sarah¡¯s father¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Keep breathing in¡­ out¡­ in¡­ out¡­ Good lass, now Sarah-Bear what¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t know dad.¡±

    ¡°Sarah-Bear just keep breathing and sit down. That¡¯s it, that¡¯s a good lass.¡±

    He hugged her tightly. Sarah¡¯s hands were still trembling her eyes were drawn back to Eyre she¡¯d never seen someone so¡­perfect. Her dad wasn¡¯t meeting Eyre¡¯s gaze. Eyre reached her hand out after meeting Sarah¡¯s gaze and motioned downwards.

    ¡°Sleep.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s head hit her arms and she was snoring. Eyre told each of the twins to forget what they had experienced and put them to sleep. She turned off her body camera and did the same on both unconscious agents. She checked their vitals. Then for any signs of internal injuries. Once she was satisfied, she stood up and looked at Liam and M¨°rag. The former was pacing, the later had found a kitchen knife and was glaring at Eyre.

    ¡°You get out of my kitchen witch.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You dinnae have a right to be here, do you know how many laws you are violating?¡±

    ¡°I am fully authorized to undertake these actions as of this morning.¡±

    Eyre produced two documents from a pocket and offered them to Sarah¡¯s mother. Who put the knife down and started reading them her face growing paler with each line. Her hands began to tremble, and tears started falling down her cheeks. Her hand grabbed Liam¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Liam, she means to take her from us. The president signed a national emergency order today and suspended rights of individuals considered a threat to the safety of the United States. Sarah¡¯s name is on the list!¡±

    Sarah¡¯s father was still pacing. He was keeping his gaze away from Eyre though he would glance at her from time to time, like a student who had been caught and sent to the headmistress¡¯s office. Eyre was looking at them both, shaking her head and appeared utterly speechless.

    ¡°What am I going to do with two of you? Liam you have violated enough laws on both sides of the border that I could throw you into supermax for the rest of your natural lifespan, and you, M¨°rag, I have no jurisdiction over you, but I believe the president wants to make sure you get charged for a lot of crimes. Considering the drugs, you were pushing on Sarah I think child endangerment is the least of your worries. You¡¯re her parents for God¡¯s sake. You are supposed to protect her, not victimize her.¡±

    She leaned on the table and glanced down at the sleeping Sarah.

    ¡°Puberty blockers? Mood stabilizers? Anti-psychotics? Anti-Depressants? I¡¯m surprised she hasn¡¯t caused more damage. You two have caused your daughter so much pain and suffering and all you had to do was bring her home to us. God damnit. One person is dead, one girl is intensive care, your daughter has third degree burns. Can you see the kind of madness you¡¯ve caused?¡±

    Liam was staring at his wife now. Shock evident on his face. Eyre looked at him and then to Sarah¡¯s mother who wasn¡¯t looking up from the counter.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t know. You were stunting your daughter¡¯s development, keeping her drugged into a stupor and he didn¡¯t know. He had no idea the reason his daughter was getting bullied and wasn¡¯t developing properly. That it was caused by you getting her injections behind his back.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ thought¡­ I thought¡­¡±

    ¡°You thought wrong, you¡¯re her mother! Oh you¡­ you are the worst kind of parent.¡±

    That seemed to snap M¨°rag out of her complacency and she started going off at Eyre in Gaelic. Liam winced at the choice of words. Eyre let her finish.

    ¡°And that changes what precisely?¡±

    ¡°Listen you British twat you can¡¯t come in here and tell me how to raise my daughter!¡±

    Eyre stood up to her full height which was almost as tall as Sarah¡¯s and looked down at M¨°rag.

    ¡°Someone had too. All you had to do was raise her in Scotland. Once she hit twelve or thirteen and she started developing we could have taken her. Got her acclimatized. Prepared her, made her feel normal. But no, you ran away to the one place where we can¡¯t just snatch her legally. Then your husband had the ballocks to call our MANA office here and ask for my help. I came, I cleaned up your daughter¡¯s mess. I made Sarah forget. You promised me once she hit puberty you would bring her to the office. I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I let you have your last few months with her then you vanish again. Liam, I told you this would happen, I said to you: Liam if you do not give her to us someone is going to get hurt, maybe a stranger, maybe you or your wife, maybe Sarah, or the twins.¡±

    He was staring at the floor his ears red his eyes drifting to his wife. Eyre looked at M¨°rag. The woman was still looking as defiant as ever.

    ¡°Oh, she stopped you, did she? You were always too quick to listen to her at home, and it seems this version isn¡¯t any different.¡±

    M¨°rag looked at her and then to Liam.

    ¡°Oh, didn¡¯t he tell you? He was married to you before, or at least your other self. Until she died in a car accident. He was distraught. He found out you existed here as well, and he came to me in tears begging me to help him get approved for a visa to Earth-2¡¯s Scotland. You see there was never a Liam here before. His parents are alive back home.¡±

    M¨°rag glared at Liam then started yelling in Gaelic and throwing things at him. Eyre let it go on for a few minutes before she yelled at them.

    ¡°Stop it, you are adults, act like it.¡±

    Eyre waited for them to calm slightly, at least enough so that M¨°rag wasn¡¯t hitting him.

    ¡°Now you two have issues you¡¯re going to have to work out. Right now, I have more pressing concerns. The three of us have a few choices here, all of them end with Sarah in my custody and on her way to Aurelius Academy in the fall. The question is: Are you going to resist me further and I toss your asses in prison and throw away the key? Do you cut your losses accept phone calls from her and keep communications open? Or do you come back with us to Earth Prime and start new lives where you can see your daughter regularly? The final one, which is the one I¡¯m most tempted by is to leave you both here wallowing in your own misery and tell her exactly what you did to her, I suspect she might choose to never speak to either of you again.¡±

    She pulled a tablet out of her pack and placed it on the table.

    ¡°Take your twins, put them in bed, then go somewhere and watch this. I want you to see why your daughter snapped and you can decide which option is best for her. The only reason you aren¡¯t both on your way to Earth-18 right now is that I think that as terrible as your choices have been, they were out of love for your daughter and that with some counselling you can be a happy family again. A girl needs her parents. I will not break you up on purpose. This is a limited time offer when I leave Earth-2 with her she is never coming back. You can be there for her, you can stay here, or there is always prison.¡±

    She crouched and she touched Blair¡¯s cheek and chanted and transferred his injuries to her and did the same with Malcom. Liam and M¨°rag were still looking at each other and the tablet. She reached out to touch Liam, but he leaned back out of the way.

    ¡°Let me heal you Liam.¡±

    He paused then seemed to relent and she healed him as well. She looked at M¨°rag.

    ¡°If I try to heal you, will try to stab me?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Eyre touched her and healed her as well. M¨°rag looked a bit stunned.

    ¡°I¡¯m not the monster you¡¯ve built me out to be M¨°rag. I am a mother several times over. I know how much this hurts you. Take the boys put them to bed take the tablet, look through our files. You need to see what she has gone through. Go. I will not take her until we all have a talk.¡±

    Eyre picked up the agents and carried them to the SUV and put them in the back seat. By the time she returned Sarah was the only person in the kitchen. She approached her and shook her hand gently.

    ¡°Sarah, Sarah, wake up.¡±

    Sarah stirred and rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°Where am I? Who are you?¡±

    Eyre sat down across from Sarah. She tapped something just under her neck. Her imaged shifted her clothing changed to black body suit. She had a sword strapped to her back. Sarah blinked at her.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡±

    ¡°You are going to regret using that language in front of me young lady. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day you are going to realize who you were talking to, and you are going to be embarrassed.¡±

    Sarah gulped.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°My name is Eyre Aurelius. I am from another dimension. I am the headmistress of a school that was built specifically for our kind.¡±

    Sarah was still groggy she pointed at the floor and then to Eyre.

    ¡°You put me to sleep.¡±

    ¡°I did. I am a super, like you. I am here to take you into custody because you are a threat to your family, to yourself and to others.¡±

    Sarah started to get a panicked look in her eyes.

    ¡°It is not what it sounds like. I am taking you home with me. There you will be safe; You will be taught to control your abilities as well as attend normal high school classes. I am the headmistress of the Aurelius academy. Think of it like a posh private school.¡±

    ¡°But what about my family?¡±

    ¡°That is a discussion for later. For now, I wanted to tell you some things you may not be aware of. First off, you are a super. Second you are a very powerful super. Third, I have known about your existence since you were six years old and you saved your family from a terrible accident. Your parents were informed of your potential and advised that you would need to come with us when you reached puberty so we could assist you in growing into your powers so you wouldn¡¯t fear them and hurt others by accident. They hid you from us. There is more but its not for me to tell. Your mother and father have done some things that they will have to explain to you. Once they finish you can decide if you still want them in your life or not.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re my mom and dad.¡±

    ¡°Your father was my student. He is from Earth Prime. By concealing you and aiding you in your¡­ crimes he is guilty of all of them and unlike you he was well aware of the threat you posed. He has more than earned a life sentence in our supermax prison. Your mother while not bound by our specific laws has broken several of this country¡¯s laws and is likely to be arrested. Your brothers are not supers and I cannot bring them with us without special permission which I would seek if you asked me. Otherwise, they will go into foster care here.¡±

    Sarah was starting to panic again.

    ¡°Sarah focus, on me. These are all things that will happen if you don¡¯t come with me of your own accord. If you chose to come with me, I will make all that go away, and they have the option of coming with us to Earth-Prime. If they come with you, you will stay with them until the new school year starts at Aurelius Academy, if they do not you will stay with your father¡¯s parents who contrary to his lies, are quite alive and well and eager to meet you.¡±

    ¡°So let my parents rot in jail, or abandon my life and friends here?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand Sarah, if you resist I will either have to kill you or subdue you. Then you will be joining your father in the Supermax prison on Earth-18. You are too dangerous to leave untrained and loose in the world.¡±

    ¡°So, I have no choice?¡±

    Sarah had tears dripping down her cheeks.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to hurt anyone. It is not my fault I was born this way.¡±

    ¡°The first statement is categorically wrong, you always have a choice, it¡¯s just sometimes the selection is absolutely shitty, the latter is true. You did not willingly harm Candace, but you did none the less. I cannot say what she deserved for the torment she put you through, but just because you have power it does not make you the judge jury and executioner. You could no sooner change what you were born as then you could change the fact the Earth Orbits the sun. But the fact remains you were born with superpowers and that means even if you didn¡¯t want it, you have a responsibility to your fellow humans to keep yourself under control.¡±

    ¡°So, what I go with you, and you train me to be your soldier?¡±

    ¡°No Sarah, this isn¡¯t a movie. We train you to control your powers, we guide you into becoming a productive member of society and a mature adult. If you decide to work for MANA or Earth Gov that is up to you. I don¡¯t care if you decide to go onto be a doctor, a lawyer, a kindergarten teacher, what I do care about is that you can do so at all. With proper training and control you will be provided with a license to use your powers however you see fit within the bounds of law, if that means you decide to never use them again that is up to you, for the most part there are some provisions enshrined in law that say your country of origin/citizenship can conscript you to aid with disaster relief and national emergencies, that may include enforcement action.¡±

    ¡°So even if I¡¯m free I¡¯m never free?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Sarah look at it from this perspective, you have to be licensed to drive, you have to be licensed to legally carry a firearm, both of these require training and passing a test. You are a living nuclear weapon; Does it not stand to reason you require training and testing and licensing to use your power safely? And you¡¯re worse than either of those two things because you can¡¯t control your power. You can put a gun down, you will always be a super, today, tomorrow, ten years from now, you will never not be dangerous. But with our help you can put your powers down and pick them up when you need.¡±

    There was a loud noise from another room. M¨°rag screamed. She started curse in Gaelic and Liam could be heard trying to calm her down unsuccessfully. Sarah pushed her chair back. Eyre held up her hand.

    ¡°They are fine. I just provided them with a detailed report of the cyberbullying that Candace has been putting you through. I suspect the just saw the video that precipitated your latest episode.¡±

    Sarah looked like she was about to throw up.

    ¡°You remember what it was now don¡¯t you?¡±

    Sarah had her hand over her mouth and nodded she rushed to the sink and threw up.

    ¡°I¡­kept them from finding out.¡±

    Eyre stood and pulled off some paper towels of a roll. She offered them to Sarah who with some difficulty wiped her face. Eyre motioned to Sarah.

    ¡°Come here love, give me your hands.¡±

    Sarah offered her hand to Eyre with some hesitance. Eyre took Sarah¡¯s wrist. She started chanting as she did her hands grew bruised and bloody and the burns seared into her flesh. She winced and then miraculously all the injuries healed in seconds. Sarah looked down at her hands quickly pealing the bandages off.

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Magic.¡±

    ¡°No seriously how?¡±

    ¡°I used magic to transfer your wounds to myself and since I have what we¡¯ve come to refer to as regeneration they healed quickly. That spell allows me to take your pain away. Here it is the best I can do, there is no well spring of magic like there is on my Earth. There I can heal with more conventional magics. The spell I used on you is archaic from a time when all we could do is redirect energy.¡±

    ¡°Can I use magic?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, some people have the talent some people don¡¯t. We will not know without testing.¡±

    Sarah rubbed the fresh and smooth unblemished skin of her hands.

    ¡°There is no sign of the burns. They said that I would be scarred for life.¡±

    ¡°They are not aware of Earth-Prime or what we are capable of. Let¡¯s clean up this mess so it won¡¯t smell.¡±

    Eyre cleaned out the sink and rinsed it with soap. Sarah sat down at the table and kept staring at her hands. They were so thoroughly healed that the callouses she had worked so long to develop to make them harder were gone. It¡¯s like they were new. She would glance at Eyre every so often.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem like a Headmistress or principle or what-.¡±

    Sarah blinked and her cheeks went a deep red. Eyre smiled.

    ¡°There it is. I told you that you would be embarrassed you used that language in front of me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the headmistress of the school you came to take me, too, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Eyre nodded. Sarah buried her face in her hands.

    ¡°And you know about everything Candace did to me? And¡­ oh god I¡¯m so embarrassed.¡±

    ¡°It comes with the territory of being a teenage girl in the 2020¡¯s Sarah. Actually, most decades. Even 14<sup>th</sup> century England I am afraid. Hormones are a bitch.¡±

    ¡°If I come with you¡­ can you help me with¡­ my¡­¡±

    Sarah blushed again burying her face in her hands.

    ¡°Why am I asking you, you¡¯re just a teacher.¡±

    ¡°I am more than a teacher Sarah; I have had many careers. Doctor has not been one of them. However, I am aware of the issues you¡¯ve been having with your development. I assure you that is going to change very soon, now the injections are off the table. Unfortunately, that means the things that have been happening around you, like say, computers suddenly catching on fire, houses shaking, plants growing randomly, is just a precursor to the main event which if our scans are not lying to me could be big enough to wipe out several city blocks.¡±

    ¡°You are talking like this is normal.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, for us it is normal. I deal with this on a daily basis. Well not this in particular, on Earth-Prime you would never have been left to your own devices to understand your power, your father should have had this talk a long time ago. You keep getting hit with two things at once, your emotions get out of control and then something strange happens. Which causes you to panic even more, which causes more things to happen¡­ do you see where I¡¯m going?¡±

    ¡°I do ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°I would love to say I can snap my fingers and remove your abilities and let you go on with your life, but it is not possible. Your life as you know it is over. That is the bad news. The good news is, where you are going this is normal, you will not have to hide who you are. You will meet new friends, join new sports teams, you have two sets of live grandparents on the other side. And with your abilities you¡¯ll be a superstar. Every government on Earth will want you.¡±

    ¡°There is another version of my mother?¡±

    ¡°No, sadly she died in a car accident which is partially what led us to this predicament.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s face twisted slightly her eyes narrowing.

    ¡°Sarah she wasn¡¯t your mother, she was a different person. She had a different history. A different schooling. However biologically she would have been identical to your mother. So, your alternate grand parents may want a relationship. We stay out of such matters. However, courts do not. So, if your mother¡¯s alternate parents want a relationship with you, they can technically sue for visitation. That being said usually the courts will ask your opinion if you¡¯re old enough, which you are. Your father¡¯s biological grandparents could theoretically demand custody and based on your parent¡¯s behavior the courts would grant it. What I am saying is you have a lot of confusing times ahead, but I will be there for you, Earth Gov will be there for you, and your parents if they come with you will be there with you. Now you also have grandparents who can stand with you too. You are not alone, and you will not be alone.¡±

    ¡°If I go, what can I take with me?¡±

    ¡°Everything. You can even keep talking to your friends here. You have to be careful not to mention you are on different version of Earth or anything about superpowers, that will be caught and blocked before transit here. Basically, it¡¯s up to the people of this Earth to decide when they will tell their people about alternate earths and powers.¡±

    ¡°Can I go on my date with Richard?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry when we finish talking, you and I are going to transit quarantine where you will receive two doses of T-Cell Enhancer and you will stay there for two weeks. Then when you are fully protected from possible infections on our Earth you will transit to your new home world. From there you will be flown from Munich to Scotland. Once in Scotland you will stay with your grandparents while undergoing a crash course on Earth-Prime laws and power control. You will be equipped with an ankle monitor which serves two functions, it will dampen your powers and will allow us to track you in real time. Once we have a better picture of your power signature and you have completed your first year the monitor will no longer be necessary while on Earth-Prime. Any PL10 or above is required to wear one during the initial stages of puberty.¡±

    ¡°So, I¡¯m a prisoner?¡±

    ¡°No. On the contrary you can go anywhere your Scottish and American passports will let you go on our Earth. You are fourteen and your grandparents will have temporary guardianship of you until we have sorted out your parent¡¯s status. So, if you want to go far, you¡¯ll need their permission and likely their money. And do not worry you will not be a burden on them financially. I have already arranged for financial aid from Earth Gov. Look at it this way, you¡¯re going to spend the summer in Scotland with your grandparents while attending summer school. The ankle device is so you don¡¯t need to worry about your powers getting out of control and hurting anyone. And the law dictates that as an PL10+ MANA and your local government are able to determine your exact location in real time.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why are you so scared of me?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°Before I show you what I¡¯m going to show you, you need to put this on your ankle.¡±

    She offered a small anklet that was made of almost soft-rubber cloth. It was in two parts.

    ¡°This is the first step in accepting my deal.¡±

    Sarah took the two pieces and looked at it. She put it on the table and stared at it. She would be giving up her freedom for her parent¡¯s lives. She looked back up at Eyre.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t fair.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, life isn¡¯t fair. Your parents made their choices, now you need to make yours. Will you be law-abiding citizen, or will you try to swim upstream?¡±

    Sarah looked at it and touched the halves sliding them along the table.

    ¡°Sarah, if you put that on, I can make an exception and let you go on your date with Richard, let you have one last party with your friends. I¡¯ll even pay for it. If you don¡¯t put that on now, I cannot trust you not to hurt anyone else. I cannot trust that your parents will not try to run off you again and start this whole chase again. If that happens, I can assure you our conversation will end very differently.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t my parents be present or something?¡±

    ¡°They are wanted criminals. The Scottish government has revoked your citizenship. The US president has revoked any rights you have, human and otherwise. You are a person with no country. And because I like ensuring I have all my bases covered.¡±

    She reached in and handed Sarah a bundle of paper.

    ¡°That is an arrest warrant for you, your mother and your father.¡±

    She pulled out another bundle of papers.

    ¡°These are court papers granting your paternal grandparents¡¯ temporary guardianship.¡±

    She put another bundle of papers in front of her.

    ¡°And these are authorizations by the US Government, and Scottish Governments of Earth-Prime granting me extraordinary powers to return you to your Grandparents.¡±

    And finally.

    ¡°This is a document from the US Government of Earth-2 acknowledging the change in guardianship.¡±

    ¡°You can get your mother to read them all, I¡¯ll wait. She¡¯s a lawyer, most of our laws are very similar. Or you can trust me and understand the only choice you have is whether you come with me in chains, in a box, or in a comfortable limousine and private plane after you have one last fling with your friends. Your parents will never need to know what you did to protect them. That will be between you and I¡±

    ¡°Why are you here? Why not some police agent type thing? You¡¯re a teacher.¡±

    ¡°There are precisely eight people who could be sitting in this chair. Six of them are four-thousand-year-old vampires who would have just killed you at the first sign of resistance. The other is my sister who is younger than me, but a lot more mmm¡­ anal retentive, that¡¯s the word. She would throw your parents in jail, and you would be dragged to the school in chains. If you gave her too much resistance, she would throw you in jail. She¡¯s big on laws. So, because I felt bad for you, and I care about your father I made sure it would be me.¡±

    ¡°What are you then?¡±

    ¡°I am a twelve-hundred-year-old vampire. I assure you the show I put on tonight wasn¡¯t for you. I could have come in here snapped your parent¡¯s necks and incapacitated you before anyone realized what was happening. And that is exactly what would have happened if it had been any of my ancient cousins.¡±

    ¡°You could just look me in the eyes and make me do this.¡±

    Sarah lifted both halves of the ankle device.

    ¡°True. But that is not the relationship I want to have with you Sarah.¡±

    She tapped her necklace and was wearing a stylish business dress. She crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.

    ¡°The question is what kind of relationship do you want to have with me? Do you want to trust that as your headmistress and instructor I have your best interests in mind? Or do you want an antagonistic one where you believe I am out to get you?¡±

    Sarah nodded. She took both halves and leaned down putting them around her ankle there was a flash and it fused. She didn¡¯t feel any different.

    ¡°Thank you, Sarah.¡±

    Eyre picked up the arrest warrants and pulled fire from the gas stove¡¯s pilot light and it burst into flames and vanished. She pulled out another tablet from what appeared to be a purse and handed it to Sarah.

    ¡°You asked me why everyone is so scared of you. This is what you did to Candace.¡±

    Sarah took the tablet and put it on the table and swiped it open. She watched the video of Candace fighting against an unseen force then she was treated to a picture of her in the hospital. Sarah¡¯s hand went to her mouth, and she started having a panic attack and she ran to the sink and dry heaved for a few minutes. Eyre waited for her to calm down.

    ¡°You did that to someone four kilometers are away from you. That means you could do it to everyone in a four-kilometer radius at a minimum, at once. Do you understand?¡±

    Sarah sat down again. She poured a glass of water and took a long drink. She pushed the tablet away and was refusing to look at what she¡¯d done any longer.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°It is not the worst you¡¯ve done, but that is a discussion for another time, when you¡¯re more mature. I¡¯m not here to make you feel bad about yourself. You¡¯ve got the monitor and power limiter on. And we had a deal. I¡¯ll let you and your parents get back to your dinner. I want you to understand it limits your powers it doesn¡¯t eliminate them. You need to make sure you keep taking your ADHD medication. It gives you a chance to make the decision on whether to hurt someone or not. With that anklet that is all you need, the chance to make the choice. Without it even with your meds you have no chance to stop it at least at the moment.¡±

    She took the tablet back and put it in her pack.

    ¡°We are going to change up your medication regimen.¡±

    Eyre stood up and started going through the pill bottles looking at each. She put a bottle of white and blue capsules on the table in front of Sarah.

    ¡°These are the only ones you need. The rest of these are not for ADHD, they were to keep your mood stable, but they are having the opposite effect, they¡¯ve been giving you panic attacks according to MANA¡¯s medical staff. You have a mostly normal brain you don¡¯t need these. So, you should not take them. You do have ADHD and we will make sure you continue to get treatment and meds on Earth-Prime.¡±

    Sarah nodded and looked in the direction of her mom and dad.

    ¡°Look Sarah, there is a lot you don¡¯t know, and if your parents are any kind of parents at all they will be honest with you before you leave. Please trust me when I say that you will start puberty before you start school next fall.¡±

    Sarah nodded and wiped away a few more tears. Eyre smiled at her.

    ¡°You made the right choice Sarah. The best choice you had out of a bunch of bad ones. That is the best you can hope for in life.¡±

    She pulled out a phone of an odd design.

    ¡°This is activated and has my number in it. If you need anything before, we leave, you call me. Also tell me where you want your party, I will make it happen. The other number that has been programmed in it is your paternal grandparents. You can feel free to call them if you want.¡±

    Sarah took the phone and looked at it.

    ¡°How? What kind of phone is this?¡±

    ¡°Kennedy Industries. Its cross-dimensional.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m not leaving Earth-2 without you. And I almost forgot.¡±

    She reached into her pack and pressed device against Sarah¡¯s skin and hit hissed Sarah looked at her.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°First dosage of your T-cell enhancer. You need another one in a week.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°It will basically increase your body¡¯s ability to fight off infections by around one thousand percent. In other words, if you get a bad flu, it will last a couple of days at the worst. It also stops cytokine storms as I¡¯m told and what that means is the deadliest parts of infections are stopped. Alright I¡¯ll be back to pick you up in a few days. Make sure you pack what you need. The rest we can ship over. So, focus on clothes, ones appropriate for a Scottish summer. You can also bring your electronics, there is a good chance they¡¯ll work with our technology. Okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Have fun with your friends.¡±

    Sarah nodded. Eyre called out.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving, you¡¯ll find all the legal paperwork on the table.¡±

    ¡°See you soon Sarah. I¡¯m so excited for you. A whole new world is about to open up for you.¡±

    Eyre walked out leaving Sarah staring at the phone and the paperwork. Her dad looked around.

    ¡°She just left? Just like that? What did you say to her?¡±

    ¡°I just agreed to go with her dad. She gave me a way to limit my powers and said I could stay, get packed have a farewell party with my friends. She said you could come with me.¡±

    Her mother started going through the paperwork. By the time she reached the end of the second document her face had fallen. She collapsed in a nearby chair.

    ¡°Liam, our parents have been granted temporary custody of her and the boys at that British bitch¡¯s discretion!¡±

    Sarah picked up her pill bottle and her new phone and started to walk away. Her mother called out.

    ¡°Sarah. You come back here.¡±

    Sarah turned around tears in her eyes. Things had begun to become very clear. The haziness the dullness. The inability to feel much sometimes. The delayed puberty.

    ¡°No mom, you don¡¯t get to tell me what to do anymore.¡±

    ¡°You need to take your supper meds.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to do that mom. I can¡¯t trust either of you. You lied to me, you drugged me, and you let me endanger my friends and my brothers. I am going to my room and when I feel like talking to you I will, but until then leave me alone. She said this ankle thing limits my powers but can¡¯t eliminate them so I don¡¯t know what I might do to you by accident so stay away.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, lass Dinnae be that way.¡±

    ¡°No dad, no just no. I¡¯m fourteen and I look like a fucking boy.¡±

    Her mother looked like she was going to say something about her language.

    ¡°Did you do this to me? Is that what the injections were for? To make me a boy? Was that whole get pretty for the dance my last chance to prove I should be a girl?¡±

    Sarah¡¯s mother dropped the paper.

    ¡°Did that Briti-.¡±

    Sarah was full on bawling now; Tears were flowing freely.

    ¡°No mom, no she didn¡¯t, but I¡¯m not stupid mom. I¡¯m not stupid. I need a pill mom! One pill a day for my ADHD the rest¡­the rest was. I have no idea what sick game you were playing. But I¡¯m a girl I was born a girl, I am a girl, and I am not your boy or whatever you were trying to make! No more. No more!¡±

    Things started to shake in her immediate vicinity, she did her breathing exercises and it stopped.

    ¡°You better thank Ms. Aurelius mom; She just saved your life even if I don¡¯t want hurt people, I hurt them. You did this, you both did this to me! I¡¯m going to go upstairs and I¡¯m going to start packing and I¡¯m going to call my granddad and grandma because they want me how I am. They signed papers saying that I was free to choose my gender. Right here.¡±

    She rushed forward and poked one of the pages.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get to choose that: I do! I do. Guess what mom, I choose girl! Fuck you both!¡±

    Sarah ran upstairs and slammed her door.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - A Presidents Plea (Helen)

    President Allison Morris stood at the head of the briefing room table with her arms crossed. In the room was her entire joint armed services committee, her secretary of national defense, her secretary of national security and six of the most influential senators, and six of the most influential congressmen, the director and deputy director of the NSA, FBI, CIA and ICE. Lastly her chief of staff. She hadn¡¯t been sure what to expect but between the three live body camera feeds she was impressed. Eyre had delivered exactly what she promised. She could see the men and women in the room pissing themselves as the subject tore the guns apart and caused a localized earthquake. The looks on their faces when Eyre stopped it with a command and then put the kid to sleep with the wave her hand were priceless. She¡¯d never seen a bunch of grown people look so scared in her life. When the cameras went dark, she pressed a button on a phone.

    ¡°Get me the seismological data for Phoenix Arizona, last ten minutes please.¡±

    She hadn¡¯t prepped it, but her staff were good at their jobs while they waited the assembled officials looked between each other and at the president. Finally, the data showed up on the screen indicating a magnitude 5 event localized to the area the house was in with about a three kilometer span of 3.5. She waited for the information to sink in.

    ¡°You are all probably wondering why you were invited here. What you just saw was real time. Most of you are not aware we have been in contact with representatives for a parallel version of Earth. This sort of thing is a common occurrence on their world. They are skilled at dealing with it. We are not. The US is the only country on our planet that has not signed a treaty with these folks. I declared a national emergency today so that I could grant an agent from their world government enforcement powers to acquire the subject. You just witnessed her capture. That agent is a twelve-hundred-year-old vampire she is also the former director of their world police force. She and I have a personal relationship, so she went against her government¡¯s wishes to assist us in this matter. That child she captured is what they define as a PL14. We are now experiencing an upswell in people with powers being born and created by a rogue corporation. Their scale goes up to PL21. I could have sent an entire battalion to stop that girl and she would have turned them into blood splatters. Their tanks into tin foil. We do not have the skills, manpower, or technology to deal with this sort of threat. We need the assistance of these people. Imagine if that girl had been radicalized by an enemy of the United States. She looks no different than a normal human and she is an American citizen. She could travel freely, have a bad day, and then we have a terrorist attack that makes 9/11 look like amateur hour. She tapped a button on her tablet.¡±

    On the screen it showed a grey area devoid of all life the buildings crumbling.

    ¡°This is an area on their world they call the Germany Exclusion Zone. In 1942 three super powered individuals engaged in combat in Berlin, Germany. Their fight caused collateral damage on an unimaginable scale. This exclusion zone is 300000 square kilometers. All life was destroyed within the exclusion area. I repeat, all life down to the smallest microbe, no viruses, no bacteria, no plants, no animals and no humans. Fifty-five million people died in an instant. One second, they were alive, and the next they were dead and all they did wrong was living in Germany. If I had not authorized the action, you witnessed tonight that could have been the southwestern united states.¡±

    She flipped to a new slide.

    ¡°They call this event the Siberian Prominence. On their scale a PL19 super villain is the term they use, declared Siberia an independent state. The Soviet Union asked for help because a PL19 is capable of devastation on a continental scale. The organization they call MANA sent their most powerful super, a PL20. So, you understand their scaling, that is a being who without outside assistance and with a snap of their fingers can end all life on the planet. What you¡¯re seeing is drone footage of the remnants of that battle. A blasted moonscape. With these beings being born on our world this is our future.¡±

    Her national defense secretary shook her head.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be real.¡±

    ¡°I said the same thing when I was briefed.¡±

    One of the Democratic Senators, her opposition party spoke up.

    ¡°You¡¯ve known about this threat since you took office?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have been aware of this threat since 1974. Our world was considered low possibility of superpower development. However, BMC, a Canadian Corporation has been using a retrovirus to genetically engineer superpowers into people using vaccines. For once the conspiracy theorists got it right.¡±

    She flipped to a new slide.

    ¡°This is a BMC facility that was a converted nuclear shelter the Canadian government built into the Canadian shield near Lake Superior. This is satellite images 2024 as you can see its thriving. Satellite image from January, 2025. It¡¯s a debris filled crater.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°It was a secret facility BMC was using to house the super powered individuals they were creating. They were looking for a specific mix of abilities. My daughter, who you all believe is deceased, is not deceased and was in fact infected by a cybernetic nanite plague by these individuals. They captured her, this is what she did in her escape. The nanite plague is alien in origin. She used that alien knowledge to craft a series of mini satellites each has a super-tech rail gun built into it and each one is capable of an impact with the same energy as the bomb used on Nagasaki. When she was captured, she used one to attack the facility she was in. Our intelligence suggests she let them capture her so she could locate this facility and assault it. She liberated four super powered beings; The rest died due to fail safes. When she was exiting, she detonated a thermonuclear weapon. This is the result.¡±

    ¡°Your daughter sounds as dangerous as the girl you captured, what are you doing about her?¡±

    ¡°I authorized the agent you saw in action tonight to take my daughter to their world; They call it Earth Prime. She is currently assisting them in reverse engineering technology that was brought back in time. She starts school at a facility specifically designed to handle beings with these capabilities in the fall. She is also using the alien knowledge she has acquired to create new pieces of equipment. As part of my agreement with the World government on that world, they are sharing these advances with me. I will be providing the specifications for three new advancements to selected corporations in the near future. Holographic displays, holographic tablets and cold fusion reactors. I am told room temperature consumer quantum computer chips are nearing the prototype stage.¡±

    The table was full of murmurs.

    ¡°I did not violate my oath of office, or betray the US government, I simply enrolled my daughter who was being hunted by BMC in an educational program that was suited to her needs and was safely out of the reach of BMC. Any technology I receive that has civilian applications will be patented and access sold to American corporations. Anything that is specifically military will be provided to the US government free of charge and classified top secret. If you want to condemn me for wanting my child to be safe you can feel free to do so, but I have singlehandedly put the US back on the top of the tech race.¡±

    ¡°So, this girl, the one tonight, she will be taken to their world?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°She is a US citizen. There are laws.¡±

    ¡°My Emergency Declaration and subsequent executive orders allow me to authorize the suspension of the rights and privileges of super powered individuals considered a risk to the general populace and to national security.¡±

    ¡°Allison that is slippery slope.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s madame president to you Skip.¡±

    ¡°Still my point stands. Who loses their rights next?¡±

    ¡°My order was modeled after the ones used to authorize Gitmo and the suspension of rights of suspected terrorists.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need us to authorize that, none of us can stop you, and I don¡¯t think any of us want too, moral conundrums aside. I¡¯m scared shitless of these people and what it could mean for my children.¡±

    ¡°And if this gets out that it is why we will have a mass panic on our hands. Look, these people, these Earth Prime people, they don¡¯t need our permission, they are so far ahead of us with technology that even without superpowers they could conquer our world in a matter of days. And they have magic and superpowers on top of a massive technological advantage. That is what impresses me most. There has been no threat of invasion in over fifty years they have respected the sovereignty of our world and governments. The agent that took part in the capture of that girl tonight, was in my offices two nights ago, begging me to let her help us. She couldn¡¯t because we refused to sign this treaty.¡±

    ¡°What do we get for signing?¡±

    She changed the slide.

    ¡°This is the treaty, I can make copies available to any who would like to dig deeper. Again, this is all the highest classification of secret. If this gets out, we will have panic in the streets. We get their assistance in policing super powered individuals. They will partner with a new government agency that will be created. It won¡¯t need much funding or people wise. It will exist solely as a cover for their covert actions on our behalf and as a monitoring operation to ensure they are following the laws laid out in the treaty and our laws while here. So, what we get is, their people, and their intelligence briefs. Right now, any super event on this planet is reported to every single government but us. Do you know what kind of disadvantage that is?¡±

    ¡°What do we have to give up?¡±

    ¡°The right to stop them from removing super-powered people from our country. Basically, if we sign this, we agree to hand over all enforcement, punishment and re-education of these individuals to them. We agree to their laws regarding these individuals. We will not employ them in military positions or spy organizations. We agree to them taking them to their world and keeping them there and out of our hair.¡±

    ¡°So basically, they can come into our country, grab American citizens off the street and just take them away?¡±

    ¡°In the most basic terms yes. But do we want these people here? You saw what I saw, one of them has a bad day, fifty-five million people die. They have facilities and containment for these sorts of risks we do not, and I¡¯m not sure about you, I do not have the balls to tell the American people that I need one hundred and fifty more trillion dollars per year to deal with the three of them that might be born in the next twenty years.¡±

    Allison paused.

    ¡°Look our constitution was written by brilliant men who valued freedom and self-rule, but they had no idea some of the threats we would face. As forward thinking as they were they¡¯d try to burn these people at the stake. I need congress and the senate to approve this treaty and I need the American people to not really understand what we¡¯re doing. The bleeding hearts will cry but they¡¯re humans too. But I would rather impinge on the rights of one child then risk fifty-five million American lives on a gamble that kid will be well-balanced, not sexually molested, and not bullied. How about you?¡±

    She looked around the table.

    ¡°What is our money into this?¡±

    ¡°Minor if anything. They supply the people, they supply the tech, we supply the land. We allow them to use witness protection to help them vanish people and families.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it¡¯s too good to be true.¡±

    ¡°You have not spoken to their reps. These people aren¡¯t here because they want something, they¡¯re here because they are afraid for us. I see it in their eyes. They have seen some shit, especially the agent you saw tonight. She¡¯s been dealing with this for over eighty years. She risked her life and her career to get this girl out of our hair. Yes, she wants to help the girl as much as she wants to help us.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean vanish people and families?¡±

    ¡°They are offering to give sanctuary to the super-powered individuals and any family, close or extended. You see they have lost over two billion people to these beings. Not including those who weren¡¯t born that should have been when you look at us. They have a population of three billion. They have the space to bring an entire family and transplant them.¡±

    ¡°If it is parallel then don¡¯t we exist there too?¡±

    ¡°Actually no, I¡¯m not sure I understand half of it clearly but there is a small chance there is another you or me over there, apparently it is confined to certain rare individuals.¡±

    ¡°What about normal people, what if I decide screw this overpopulated hell hole, I want to go there¡­ can I?¡±

    ¡°There are provisions for that in the treaty. But there is no hopping back and forth once you¡¯re there, you¡¯re there. They try to minimize back and forthitis I believe it was called. Our planets have developed down very different paths. Our diseases are not their diseases and vice versa.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there a risk of them bringing something with them?¡±

    ¡°No, they have a thorough process to ensure that doesn¡¯t happen. Typically, they use agents who are immune to disease, such as the one you saw tonight, she¡¯s a vampire she literally can¡¯t carry or catch a disease. As part of the treaty, they also provide us with broad spectrum T-cell enhancers. Functionally what this does is enhances our immune systems to the point where it would take a biological warfare class of virus or bacteria to cause severe illness.¡±

    ¡°And what does that cost us?¡±

    ¡°The manufacturing costs. It basically makes disease a thing of the past. They have also developed synthetic blood that is neutral. Organic organ replacements. If we sign the treaty that is what we can look forward too. They have not been able to provide these advancements to anyone because we have been the lone holdout. Our stubbornness is basically responsible for the last pandemic. If we had T-cell enhancement there is no way it would have been as deadly. Also, they are the reason we didn¡¯t lose half our world population, they are the ones who developed the vaccine, their technology. They provided the specifications to drug companies capable of manufacturing it. Look people we have a chance to be better than the idiots that came before us and at the same time make our country safer.¡±

    ¡°For now, its harmless but what about when there is a change in leadership?¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t making a deal with their version of the US, or Russia, we¡¯re making a deal with their independent world government. Each country over there has sovereignty over their normal citizens but the real power is the Earth Gov. They have the biggest army; They have all the supers they make the treaties. The other governments over there do not have any say on these.¡±

    ¡°So, the supers run their world?¡±

    ¡°No. Anyone can run or hold a public office. There are some restrictions such as if they are a certain power level, they need to attend education to be licensed to take part in society. Refusal to get educated gets them arrested and locked up. Refusal to follow the laws is the same thing. I am not saying they are society to look up to. They are hard core. They don¡¯t fuck around with supers over there. They assume they are going go bad. The most powerful ones are tracked in real time with satellites tasked specifically to them. If we had lost 2 billion people to them, we would be same way, but we have chance not to be.¡±

    ¡°What about immigration in this direction?¡±

    ¡°That is up to individual countries on this side certain countries are more open than others. Some are strict about who they allow. Japan for example will only allow Japanese immigrants. Canada is more open minded; Scotland allows anyone of Scottish ancestry. For us, that is a policy we set.¡±

    Allison leaned on the table.

    ¡°Look I could use my emergency powers to make this happen and I doubt any of you seated here would resist me and you would probably convince your parties to jump in line after what I showed you. I am not going to do that, that is something my predecessor would do to show he had a big dick. I value your input, all of your input, whether you¡¯re my party or not. That¡¯s why you were invited to see this. I have been asked to extend the invitation to anyone here who would like to go across and see for yourselves. There is paperwork of course you will need to take two doses of T-Cell enhancer and wait two weeks for full protection before you can go. I would dearly love to see this world that they have built and my daughter, but I will not leave this world so long as I¡¯m the President. So, I have to depend on your eyes and ears. My chief of staff can get you into contact with the proper people.¡±

    ¡°Can we meet the agent?¡±

    ¡°I am afraid she is not available. She is actually retired from active duty and was only here as a favor for me. She is the headmistress of the academy that teaches supers to control their powers and ensures they are aware of the ones that are going to abuse them. I do have another one of their representatives.¡±

    She pressed a button on her phone.

    ¡°Please send in Ms. Aurelius.¡±

    The door opened and a woman who looked to be eighteen years old entered. She was in a professional looking dress and her hair was tied into a bun. She had a holo-tablet around her wrist.

    ¡°Please introduce yourself.¡±

    The young woman looked over the assembled staff.

    ¡°I am Helen Aurelius, Eyre, who you just saw in action is my adoptive sister. I am also a vampire.¡±

    She opened her mouth and extended her fangs.

    ¡°You see an eighteen-year-old girl before you, I am closer to one hundred years old chronologically. On my Earth I am classified as a PL20T-17-12M. What that translates to is I am capable of time travel without magical or technological assistance. I am also classified as an entity powerful enough to mentally influence a major city, such as New York. I am capable of throwing a train engine, I can alter time.¡±

    She vanished and appeared beside the president.

    ¡°Such that I could kill everyone in this room before one of you were able to mount a defense.¡±

    She walked back to the display.

    ¡°I am not trying to threaten you or scare you, just being open and honest. These are the things we assess when we find a superpowered individual. Lastly 12M means I am a magic user of moderate ability. My sister is a PL17-15M. She is capable of far more impressive magic then I am. It is a pleasure to meet you all. Do you have any questions?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean mental influence?¡±

    ¡°I can demonstrate. Do I have any volunteers?¡±

    The youngest person there one of the democratic Senators held up his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯ll volunteer.¡±

    ¡°Please join me, senator.¡±

    Helen motioned to a spot beside her. He walked over to her.

    ¡°Do you have anything you would like change about yourself? Or should I just put you to sleep?¡±

    ¡°How about smoking, can you stop me from doing that?¡±

    ¡°Of course, simple. I¡¯ll also put you to sleep to demonstrate.¡±

    She looked in his eyes. Once their gaze met, he stopped moving and stared at her.

    ¡°Remember: You hate cigarettes the smell disgusts you. The taste disgusts you. When you feel the urge to smoke one you will remember that, and you will throw it out.¡±

    She reached out her arm.

    ¡°Sleep.¡±

    He fell into her arms, and she picked him up and put him in his chair. She tapped his cheek.

    ¡°Senator, wake up.¡±

    He blinked awake and looked at her in confusion.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°How did I get back here?¡±

    ¡°You fell asleep on your feet.¡±

    She smiled at him and walked to the front of the room. The cigarette he¡¯d been spinning his hand was almost immediately thrown in the garbage. One of the military brass shrugged.

    ¡°That¡¯s just hypnotism.¡±

    ¡°It looks like it is just hypnotism, but it is far more. I can rewrite someone¡¯s memories. I could have made him think he was Richard Nixon and it would have been permanent. Nothing anyone would do could convince him otherwise. I can also make someone forget everything about themselves. I could have completely reversed his outlook on politics. Anything really given enough time.¡±

    ¡°How do they trust you to walk around with that power?¡±

    ¡°Good question, I have proven myself trustworthy. I do not use the power lightly.¡±

    ¡°That was one person.¡±

    Hazel let her charismatic aura seep out they started looking to her with adoration. She pulled it back in. Leaving them all blinking and looking at each other.

    ¡°Not direct control but I can cause an entire crowds¡¯ opinion to shift if they are paying attention to me, for good or ill. Send them home peacefully or riot.¡±

    They all looked at her with a little bit of fear.

    ¡°What do you do?¡±

    ¡°I am an Agent for MANA. I engage hostile superpowered beings and imprison them as required. I am currently on loan to the Aurelius Academy as an instructor in hand-to-hand combat and blade.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re basically an FBI agent, do you have a badge?¡±

    ¡°Closer to Interpol, or a UN Peacekeeper, I am authorized to enforce all Earth Gov laws as well as laws in sovereign states that are bound by treaty. If you were to sign the treaty, myself or someone like me would be stationed in your country and we would enforce the laws surrounding supers. On occasion during certain situations that normal authorities cannot handle we will assist as requested. An example of that would include a school invasion with explosives and hostages. We would assist in suppressing armed resistance and removing bombs and rescuing innocents. We also assist with suppressing terrorist activities both super and N-Mag. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed many countries have had a marked decrease in terrorist attacks.¡±

    One of them held up his hand she pointed to him.

    ¡°What does N-Mag mean?¡±

    ¡°Nil-Magic. Our way of referring to non-super humans. It is not derogatory just our shorthand like LZ, or Exfil. I¡¯m sure those of you who have law-enforcement or military background understand.¡±

    ¡°So, would you, on your Earth be considered civilian or military?¡±

    ¡°Neither. I am considered a Super.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°We have civilian authorities; We have militaries, and we have supers. Militaries deal with external conflict, civilian authorities deal with N-mag crime, and Supers deal with Supers. Only under certain circumstances like those outlined above would a super take part in civilian police actions. And we never take part in armed conflict between countries. It is forbidden under law. If two countries want to fight, they, do it with conventional means, any use of superpowers or magic results in swift and efficient justice for the supers involved and sanctions against the country harboring them. Supers battling supers in a war is like nuclear war, there are no winners, only losers. It is a lesson that was learned the hard way by the humans of our earth.¡±

    ¡°Are your intentions pure?¡±

    ¡°Even if they weren¡¯t we could make you believe they were. Look this is about trusting us. While I can make that happen it is against our laws. We are here to help. You don¡¯t trust us because you think we¡¯re looking for something, we are, to keep you safe from supers and yourselves. We have explored well over six thousand parallel earths. There are precisely three earths we have found to be one hundred percent stable. Some we have found lasted for milliseconds, others decades, some are still here. We have seen every variation you can imagine: What if the Nazi¡¯s won World War 2? What happened if the US never declared independence? What happened if the Cuban missile crisis started World War III? We have seen it; Do you know what the majority of those six thousand plus earths have in common?¡±

    She looked around.

    ¡°That all life on them was destroyed by natural disaster, asteroid, nuclear war, superpowered apocalypse, super volcano, life never got started. Ninety percent of Earths we have encountered have no life on them whatsoever. We are the rare exception. Worlds like ours. So, when we find one, we do our best to make sure it stays alive and well. We have seen too many mistakes made by other versions of ourselves. It is like mourning the human race over and over and over again. We do not want to mourn you. We are not superior to you, we are not inferior to you, we are you, you are us. If we harm you, we harm ourselves. That is the philosophy of Earth Gov and MANA. When you sign the treaty, we will share all data we have on alternate earths and our explorations and our findings. We are not selfish or self-centered. We understand that you, our closest neighbors lack some of our technological advancements and we also know if we lift one country up over the others, we will create an unstable situation.¡±

    ¡°You say this other Agent is your sister, who is your mother I assume she¡¯s a vampire so is probably still alive?¡±

    ¡°No, she died, she sacrificed herself to save the multiverse. Officially the 1942 Event as we call it involved three PL21 entities and my mother and myself. My mother was the most powerful non-PL21 entity we were aware of. There was a PL21 entity our designation is Subject 2 ¨C 1942 Event, he was also known as the Black Son. He was a primordial entity that came into being shortly after the big bang. His one goal was to tear apart creation, that is every single parallel world, the universe, everything. My mother¡¯s last act was to destroy him, she was killed in the process. Every living creation on every world and every earth owes her their lives.¡±

    ¡°So, this Subject 2, what was he?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking questions that are going to start getting into what you would consider sensitive territory. We are aware of some things you are not. Basically, we¡¯re going to start messing with people¡¯s religious sensibilities.¡±

    The president was intrigued.

    ¡°Please go on Helen.¡±

    Helen nodded.

    ¡°God exists. I did not speak to him directly, but my mother did in my presence, full on there he was talking to her, and I could understand him. I was six months a vampire. It was in Lincolnshire 12<sup>th</sup> century AD. Archangels exist, Angels exist, heaven exists, hell exists. Jesus was real, my mother traveled with him and saw him crucified. God created three beings at the dawn of time. Sextus, the first vampire, Remus, his brother and Cronos. Cronos, or the Black Son was the first born. Basically, I¡¯m talking about mythical figures here. Titans, whatever you want to call them. The three brothers, God, Archangels these beings are so powerful they can alter reality at a whim. We consider them PL21. There are no known people born with that sort of power that we are aware. We are insects to them, even our most powerful super is nothing compared to a being that can literally will galaxies into or out of existence.¡±

    ¡°Do you consider yourself religious? Do you worship any belief system?¡±

    ¡°I was born and baptized and will die a Catholic senator.¡±

    ¡°So, you know God exists and you still have faith?¡±

    ¡°I do, I go to mass every Sunday and try to observe as many holy days as my job allows.¡±

    ¡°Who is Subject 1?¡±

    ¡°Subject 1 is, was an Archangel named Seraph. She wasn¡¯t there to cause an apocalyptic attack on Germany, she was there to stop Lucifer. When my mother defeated the Black Son the first time, she caused tears in the fabric of existence. Hell developed a leak so to speak. Seraph and my mother were trying to fix those tears. As part of that they were tasked by God with either destroying demons outright or sending them back to Hell. Lucifer was the last and most powerful to escape and he brought the Black Son onto the game board. In so doing my mother and Seraph were forced to make a terrible choice. Kill 55 million people or let all of creation unravel and be remade by the literal devil and his mentor. They chose to save the countless intelligent beings that exist across all universes. Seraph sent myself and a pair of Seers, vampire enforcers, out of the zone. And engaged in the battle alone. That is the official story because that is all that can be corroborated.¡±

    ¡°What is the unofficial story? Off the record so to speak?¡±

    ¡°Subject 1 was my mother¡¯s true form. She was the Archangel Seraph. Her sacrifice destroyed Lucifer and the Black Son and the energy that was her stabilized reality.¡±

    There was murmur.

    ¡°So, the agent from earlier is half-angel?¡±

    ¡°No, my mother¡¯s true form was incapable of having children. She had a mortal human form that she would use for that purpose.¡±

    ¡°What would your mother say to us if she were here and not you?¡±

    ¡°Do you want a direct quote, or should I edit for vulgarity?¡±

    ¡°Direct quote please.¡±

    She looked to the ceiling as if asking for forgiveness.

    ¡°Get your fucking heads out of your collective motherfucking asses and do what¡¯s best for your people.¡±

    There was a bit of laughter.

    ¡°That was my mother. She was vulgar, she was sacrilegious, and she had no fear except for the safety of her children. I believe she was an Archangel and I know she was a Canonized Saint. She told Jesus that she was going to drag his ass back to Rome by his ear if he wouldn¡¯t see reason and flee from what was coming. She was also a precog, as am I.¡±

    ¡°But she didn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°She never told me what he said to her to change her mind, but against her every instinct she let him go through with it. She had the same gift I do, which is I can see the true nature of what I see. So, I suspect, though I can never say for sure, that she knew him to be God in a mortal form and did not interfere.¡±

    ¡°Could you tell us more about yourself, where you were born, how you grew up?¡±

    The president spoke up.

    ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here to discuss the treaty not the personal history of their representative.¡±

    One of the Democratic Senators, a fundamentalist Christian who had asked the question spoke up.

    ¡°Madame President, I think the person they selected to speak on their behalf¡¯s morals and personal history are pertinent, I want to know if they are like us, or we have some fundamental differences.¡±

    Helen nodded.

    ¡°It is alright Madame President, I am an open book, I have no secrets. I am long past being bashful about my origins.¡±

    The president nodded for Helen to proceed.

    ¡°As I said, I was born in the 12<sup>th</sup> century. My mother, my biological mother was raped, and I was the product of that rape. The liege of the noble who committed the crime took us in and I was raised as a maid in that household I was a serf at worst a peasant at best. My mother was disturbed by my insights because I was born as a precog and seer. She also assumed I had the devil in me even though I was baptized and attended confession regularly, also she was afraid I would endanger our place at the Lord¡¯s home. So, any misstep, any wrong question, any mistake was met with repeated lashings with a switch. If you feel it necessary, I can show you the scars. This was my life until I was twelve years old. That is when an Archangel showed up out of nowhere with her daughter. My adoptive mother was going by the name of Lady Sarah. She chastised my mother for her abuse and took me under her wing. When my biological mother died of natural causes Lady Sarah and Lord Arl took me in as their own. Lady Sarah, AKA Enid, noticed my gift right away and told me that she would make me immortal if I wanted, and only if I wanted and only once I reached adulthood. I accepted her gift and accompanied on her adventures.¡±

    ¡°You said you¡¯re Catholic, was your Adopted Mother Catholic?¡±

    ¡°My mother¡¯s religion is a debate. She was possibly an Archangel, the event¡­ messed with some of my memories, but if she was, she was literally God¡¯s biological daughter. First among his host and favored of his children he called her. So, while our relationship as Christians is more along the lines of that¡¯s God, he is the creator and I am following his teachings, it was more like a father daughter thing. My sister Hazel told me about an argument they had. My mother watched the daughter of a man she loved very much die. She knew that daughter wasn¡¯t going to Heaven because an Angel would have to pull them out of the Deadlands and pull her to Heaven she was angry and distraught, so she spent a good fifteen minutes cursing God for his inability to help the souls there threatening to tell everyone about the future and cause a massive paradox. God sent a warning to her in the form of several lightning bolts, she sent them right back at him. By the same token when my mother was stuck in a mortal form caring for a Baby and allowed herself to get tortured and raped and almost died to protect my sister. He came to her and comforted her dreams while she recovered like a loving father, when she argued with Michael, yes, the Archangel, her father came and told her the truth of her origins. If you have a daughter, that is the relationship she had with him. My mother was baptized by John the Baptist. She attended church regularly when she was in the twelfth century. She built a cathedral with her own funds in the 14<sup>th</sup> century. So, if I had to give her a religion I would say, Roman Catholic.¡±

    ¡°What about this other agent, Eyre. What is she?¡±

    ¡°She is also Catholic. We were both born in Europe in the Middle Ages. If you weren¡¯t Catholic, you were a heretic.¡±

    There were nods around the table.

    ¡°I want to know more about your personal history, if you could, what is your favorite memory?¡±

    Helen thought for a moment then tapped her holo-tablet and swept a picture to the screen.

    ¡°This one, it was my second trip through time. That is my mother, in the center, me of course, I was six months a vampire and the left is my sister Hazel, she was my mother¡¯s biological daughter. My sister is eating pizza and I¡¯m eating my first hamburger. And that town in the background was Port Royal. My mother traveled into the 29<sup>th</sup> century got us take out and brought it back for us. We sat there and watched the sun rise over a town full of pirates. We were there to deal with a demon, technically a fallen angel in that case who had escaped Hell.¡±

    ¡°And those black body suits what is that?¡±

    ¡°That is Atlantean body armor. Yes, that Atlantis. It is magical, or seems to be, if it is technological, it is so far beyond us it may as well be magic. The thing on my sister¡¯s wrist, and my wrist are holo-tablets, and the necklaces are Holo-webs. Capable of creating a holographic disguise, or at least appear as if we¡¯re wearing period appropriate clothing. I am wearing a more advanced version of it.¡±

    She tapped her neck and the image of her dress shimmered and she was in her armor with her sword strapped to her back and a pistol in a conceal holster. There were gasps all around. She tapped it and it shimmered around her again showing her professional attire.

    ¡°This behind my ear.¡±

    She pulled it off and showed them it was just a small boomerang like thing that was easily covered by her hair and ear, she placed it back on.

    ¡°Is a translator. It translates languages for me real time and as I think of words it provides me the translation so I can appear to speak most languages. It has a quantum processor built in and it can learn new languages real time as they are spoken around it. It is 29<sup>th</sup> century technology my mother procured. We are still trying to reverse engineer it.¡±

    ¡°So, most of your tech came from the future?¡±

    ¡°Yes. My sister and I debated using it at all, we could change the timeline, but then we realized that the timeline was already completely off the rails. In the original history of my world, everything proceeded exactly as it has here. No 1942 event, no super powered individuals until the late 2020¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Did you see the 29<sup>th</sup> century personally?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But I am also incapable of traveling there myself. I can only go to the past. Going to the future is impossible for non-PL21s¡±

    ¡°But your mother could go.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and she could take people with her. Like I said my mother was an Archangel, unofficially of course, because my government refuses to listen to me, so she was connected to all time and space at once. She could go to the heat death of the universe, or the big bang.¡±

    ¡°What do you know of that future?¡±

    ¡°That Amee Morris, the president¡¯s daughter, caused an ice age with nanites to save humanity from being erased from time by aliens. That in that future, Amee was de facto ruler of an entire solar system of colonies, and several extra-solar colonies. And a few outposts in the Andromeda Galaxy. We assumed that was in store for your world before we brought her to ours.¡±

    ¡°How many people died in that?¡±

    ¡°Well over 6.8 billion. In that 29<sup>th</sup> century most of the earth was covered in glaciers with only spots near the equator being habitable and the majority of humans live in domed megacities. Or on colonies of similar construction, by that time Mars had been terraformed and was technically a better place to live then Earth.¡±

    ¡°Jesus.¡±

    ¡°Those humans, compared to most worlds we have seen, they were doing great. They had FTL capable spaceships with weapons that make our current armaments look like muskets.¡±

    ¡°Do you think it will still happen?¡±

    ¡°Not likely with the assistance of Amee we have developed planetary temporal shielding. Once the treaty is signed by the USA here you will have it too.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means that if I go back in your history and I screw with your timeline anything shielded will not change. The race that was going to wipe us out in 2038 does so by going to the distant past and wiping out our evolutionary ancestors. My sister Hazel and I destroyed their research facility in the 18<sup>th</sup> century. A demon was providing them with the tech to start their temporal genocide. I hope we prevented them from even starting.¡±

    ¡°But you said there is a God and he created us. Why would he allow this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did, but he didn¡¯t make humans like us. He made the first humans, who interbred with evolved apes. Our genetics were dominant. As for why? I would not presume to speak for God.¡±

    ¡°This alien race, are they human?¡±

    ¡°No, they are¡­draconic, lizard based sentient life forms.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid they¡¯ll just come and wipe you out with conventional means?¡±

    ¡°They are welcome to try, but unlike your world our nuclear arsenal is no longer on our planet¡¯s surface and is instead just outside the moon¡¯s orbit for planetary defense. Like I said if our countries want to fight each other they are free to do so, but they need to use conventional warfare. Nuclear weapons are banned within earth local space and on the surface. Also, we have battle mages and supers.¡±

    ¡°You seem pretty confident, is there a reason for that?¡±

    Helen tapped her wrist again and sent a video to the screen.

    ¡°This was recorded in the 29<sup>th</sup> century, the ship you are about see was one kilometer long and had armor that would turn aside 100 megaton Nuclear blasts. The figure you see at the bottom is a Vampire ancient.¡±

    She pressed play. There was a single figure and all of a sudden, the glacier shattered under its feet. There were gasps as the vampire pulled their hands apart and tore the ship in half with telekinesis.

    ¡°One vampire ancient, vs a fully armored and armed dreadnought and one continental glacier.¡±

    There were murmurs around the table, a few gasps, looks of disbelief. She pointed at the screen.

    ¡°There are no less than six of those on my Earth at this time. One of them is a teacher at the Academy. Like I said the Silwrath can try, but I suspect they will fail. And if they try it will be enough to get the governments of my earth off their collective ass¡¯s and start building the space fleet we¡¯ve been asking for. I should also note that the subject you saw apprehended tonight seems to share that talent. She could likely crush that ship like it was an aluminum can.¡±

    ¡°You have that kind of power at your disposal, and you are still asking for our cooperation?¡±

    ¡°Yes, for one important reason, if we ignore your sovereignty and impose our will then why bother having laws at all? The strongest rule. We recognized in 1942 when the Munich Accord was signed that we needed strong laws and they would need to apply to everyone equally or the world would descend into chaos and that the German Exclusion zone would be just a precursor of what was to come. This was reinforced when Japan detonated a magic-based weapon on US soil during the closing years of World War 2. Their bomber missed and by some miracle New York City was spared, Ellis Island was not. Four thousand soldiers were mutated into monsters and tore the island apart and then each other. In retaliation the US dropped three nuclear weapons on Japan, one was magically enhanced. It killed seven million people and was many magnitudes stronger then even your most advanced nuclear weapon. If the Japanese weapon had hit New York City the US would have been devastated. With the sailors isolated to an island the US, with our assistance, was able to bring a tragic, but swift end to what could have been a terrible plague.¡±

    They all looked at each other and to her again. She showed them pictures and videos of the aftermath.

    ¡°If it sounds like I¡¯m trying to scare you it is because I am. This is real. This is a clear and present danger to your world. The girl that was captured tonight is the first of many to come, do not make the same mistakes we made. Get ahead of the threat. Profit from our successes in containment and training of these super humans and improve the quality of life of your citizens. We have one goal and that is to make the multiverse safer. Make humanity safer, make it better. We consider you brothers and sisters to us, not beings from an alien world, please treat us like that too. Your older more experienced siblings who have seen the best and worst of creation.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re so beneficial to us, why are these deals being made in the shadows?¡±

    ¡°Because your country can¡¯t even get through an election these days without riots and your government offices being overrun by citizens who have been radicalized by one party or the other. If you put this up for debate in the public, you will have five hundred million opinions, social media conspiracy theories and God knows what else. Look, African Americans in your country still can¡¯t walk down the street without worrying if this will be the day, they are found guilty of being dark skinned. What do you think your people will do when they find out there are actual super humans among you?¡±

    ¡°Your world seems to have come out fine with this stuff in the open.¡±

    ¡°Our world had no choice. 55 million people dying and people spontaneously developing powers while eating breakfast at the local diner. We have had eighty years to come to terms with this reality and when it started happening, we barely had a tv network. With social media, instant access news, your country, your world will be thrown into chaos. And it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have people assaulting supers in the streets. The vast majority of these beings on our world are PL1, that means they are basically just off-human, maybe they have camo skin, maybe they have cat eyes and can see in the dark. Maybe they have bat wings. They are basically humans with a single mutation. They get assaulted all the time, hate crimes. And I will be honest, we consider all supers, no matter what PL guilty until proven innocent. We have to because again the law has to apply equally to all. So, if a PL1 commits a crime it is treated as if they were a PL20. We do not change punishments based on the risk they pose. If a PL1 has a hostage, the response team will assume they are a PL20. Anything less we risk another Germany or another Siberia.¡±

    ¡°That seems a bit harsh and almost¡­racist.¡±

    ¡°You are absolutely right, our laws for supers are harsh. That is because supers need to be held to a higher level of standard then a normal human because we are dangerous. We can easily overwhelm normal humans so for normal humans to be our equals we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. It is easy for supers, especially vampires to consider humans a lesser species. For millennia you were basically cows to vampires. Did you care what a cow¡¯s hopes and dreams were when you were eating your steak dinner last night? Many vampires, especially ancients thought that way until we readjusted their moral compass. To a super like that girl, you would basically be an ant under her boot. I¡¯m not saying she is going to turn out like that but left uneducated and to their own device¡¯s supers can turn bad. And the bad ones, are really bad and can do a lot of damage.¡±

    ¡°Why did your government send you and not a diplomat?¡±

    ¡°Because I was by the edge of the exclusion zone when the event happened. I watched men, women, children just going about their lives torn to shreds by entropic energy and I was powerless to stop it. I saw the damage supers can do on the ground, in the thick of it and so when I speak, I¡¯m not some diplomat reciting history, I lived it and I saw it and I experienced it, the chaos, the helplessness our struggle to make sense of it, our struggle to survive it. Also, as a vampire I am immune to diseases and am capable of undergoing the rigorous decontamination process to travel to a non T-cell enhanced world. And I am young, I¡¯m barely older than one of your parents is at this point and am much more relatable then a four-thousand-year-old vampire.¡±

    ¡°What is your decontamination process?¡±

    ¡°Forgive me, but I am not familiar with the scientific specifics of it, I am a soldier, and I was raised in an era when there were no schools. From what I understand it I¡¯m bombarded with enough radiation to destroy any living organic matter on my person. Virus and bacteria included. Since I am clinically dead, my organic matter is immune to radiation damage. I believe I heard one scientist say my cells are involatile and cannot be changed or mutated and my body forces them to reset to their original state when I was turned. It is why we don¡¯t age.¡±

    ¡°How do you gain new memories then?¡±

    Helen laughed for the first time since she had arrived.

    ¡°You¡¯re asking the wrong person; We have scientists who have researched that for decades.¡±

    ¡°If we are going to go between worlds to see this for ourselves as the offer has been extended, how do we get decontaminated?¡±

    ¡°Your process is different than mine. I walk in a room, get zapped, I walk through a clean tunnel to the portal and into the world. For you it¡¯s a month-long process, two-week quarantine in a clean environment on this side, two-week quarantine on my world coming back. Antimicrobial showers, complete medical diagnostic scans. We are thorough, we are trying to help you save your world, not end it with a pandemic you have no acquired resistance too. And of course, the two-stage t-cell enhancement so that once you are on our world you do not catch anything, another two weeks, however you can receive the T-cell a week ahead of time the second, and then go into your quarantine on this side. We still have outbreaks, but they are minor in nature and rarely fatal without some sort of compounding factor, at least in first world countries. Some of them just refuse to let us help them. We assume it will be much the same here.¡±

    ¡°So, you have poor countries as well?¡±

    ¡°We have all the same problems you have, droughts, underdeveloped countries with poor water quality and poor food stability. Uneducated children, extremists, racism, inter-country sniping and dick swinging. We are not a utopia by any stretch of the means. For the same reason we don¡¯t force our beliefs and laws on you, we don¡¯t with them. We still use too many fossil fuels. We are on the cusp of becoming something more. With Fusion power and super-efficient solar power, we will be able to get past that. Our global warming problem is not as exacerbated as yours because we simply have less people. Again, this is what I¡¯m told, I have no idea what causes global warming, I leave that sort of thing up to the very educated humans and do my best to keep them safe from people like me who have gone rogue.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your time, Agent Aurelius.¡±

    Helen nodded and swept up a phone number and an email address.

    ¡°This is how to contact me, if you have any further questions, or questions you did not feel comfortable asking in this session, I will be available for the next two months on your world as a sign of good faith I am on loan to you until the new school year starts. I am to assist you in law enforcement as our laws permit and to be available for any of your informational needs whether it be an open senate hearing, or more private briefings. For most intents and purposes, I answer directly to your president for the next two months.¡±

 Earth 2 - 2026 - The Grandparents

    Sarah paced back and forth looking at the phone Eyre had given her.  She chewed on her thumb nail she had looked it up on the internet it would 7 pm there now.  Just after supper she reached for the phone and snatched it back. What would she say? She reached again then picked up her normal phone and texted Hana. I can¡¯t do it!  Hana texted back Yes you can they¡¯re your grandma and grandpa. Do it. Do it¡­ Sarah stopped paying attention after the fifteenth do it. She looked at the phone and picked it up and unlocked it and pressed the dial button. She held the phone to her ear it took about fifteen seconds to start ringing.  She heard it pick up and she heard a Scottish woman yelling in the background.

    ¡°Dinnae why you bother! It¡¯s just one of those scam callers again.¡±

    ¡°Hush you, old hen!¡±

    She waited hesitantly and almost hung up.

    ¡°Hello!  Duncan here.¡±

    Sarah held her breath and almost hung up again but then she spoke.

    ¡°I dinnae know if I have the right number but my name is Sarah, I¡­I think I¡¯m your granddaughter.¡±

    ¡°Did you say Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Aye, I did.¡±

    She heard ruffling.

    ¡°Grace!  Grace come here, its Sarah.¡±

    She heard the woman grumble.

    ¡°Aye and she¡¯s stuck in jail in Mexico and needs money for bail is it that one again?¡±

    She heard the man speak again.

    ¡°Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Aye, I¡¯m still here.¡±

    Sarah heard ruffling again and the woman speaking.

    ¡°Give it here.  Before you go buying another thousand pounds sterling in gift cards you daft old get.¡±

    Sarah heard more ruffling and then the woman¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Now you hear me you crook, my granddaughter isn¡¯t even on the planet so unless you¡¯re calling from that Mexico you can fuck off you crooked cunt!¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t sure if she should be upset, truth be told she was trying not to laugh and she end up letting out a giggle.

    ¡°Oh, you think it¡¯s funny calling people and getting their hopes up, there is a special place in hell for you lot right beside people talk in the cinema and child molesters!¡±

    Sarah waited for her to finish.

    ¡°Nan! It is me, Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so, you really doubling down on this scam.  Dinnae think you can fool me!  How¡¯s about we make this a viddie then?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­okay, what is a viddie?¡±

    ¡°A video call you Eejit.¡±

    Sarah looked down the phone and found something that looked like a camera to her anyway and pressed it.  She was looking at a sixty something woman who had a bit of extra weight on her.  She had blonde hair that was streaked with silver and Sarah¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I think I got it Nan.  Is it working?¡±

    ¡°As if.¡±

    The woman looked down at the phone and her hand when to her chest.

    ¡°Duncan it is her! Ducan it¡¯s Sarah!¡±

    She saw a sixties something man appear in the picture he had a thick grey beard and long grey hair.

    ¡°Aye, I told you it was her you old hen.¡±

    She could see herself in both of them.  Her grandmother was fanning herself and had tears falling now.  Sarah had some too.

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s such a bonnie lass!¡±

    ¡°Looks like you that age Grace.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to bother you both, I just¡­ I can let you go.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡±

    ¡°Okay Nan.¡±

    Her grandmother was fanning herself.

    ¡°You sound Scottish, I thought you were in the USA.¡±

    ¡°I was born in Scotland and my mom makes me speak Gaelic at home.¡±

    ¡°Did you hear that she knows Gaelic!¡±

    ¡°Of course, I heard that Grace, I¡¯m not deaf.¡±

    Her grandmother looked at him.

    ¡°Could have fooled me when you¡¯re watching your football games.¡±

    Sarah smiled and started wiping away her tears.  She giggled a bit.

    ¡°Why are you crying Lass?  Is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°No, no I¡¯m just happy to finally meet you even if it¡¯s on a phone from another planet.  You¡¯re just what I expected when Ms. Aurelius told me you were alive.  I always wondered where I got these eyes from.¡±

    ¡°Oh Lass, all the women in our family have them.  Have since the blast in 1942.  Same blonde hair.  Every single one to the last. My mother¡¯s hair was fiery red when she went to sleep almost silver when she woke up, same with the eyes, green then silver.  Always been powerful sorceresses to, the men not so much. You¡¯re the spitting image of your aunt at that age, course she was a little shorter and more developed.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry you¡¯ll grow into those legs. Grey women always do.¡±

    ¡°Nan¡­ is it okay if I even call you that?¡±

    ¡°You call me whatever you like Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Just don¡¯t call her late for dinner. Her arse won¡¯t thank you for it.¡±

    Her grandmother elbowed her grandfather in the ribs. He grunted.  Once he recovered, he seemed to be looking behind Sarah she glanced back.

    ¡°Sarah is that a football trophy behind you on the shelf?¡±

    ¡°Aye it is grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Let us have a look!¡±

    She held the phone up to the two soccer trophies.

    ¡°Most valuable player.  Did you see that, Grace? She¡¯s a championship football player!  Our granddaughter most valuable player.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I saw it, I¡¯m not blind you old fool.¡±

    ¡°I told you that ice hockey thing was only a phase that she was going to be a football player.¡±

    ¡°Actually, grandpa I still play hockey.¡±

    She showed him the trophy from this year¡¯s varsity boys hockey state championship and MVP award.

    ¡°Did that say boys?¡±

    ¡°Aye it did. Dinnae have a girls¡¯ team.¡±

    ¡°You were out there on the ice with all those gorillas, and you were the MVP?¡±

    ¡°Aye Grandpa I was captain. Of both teams.¡±

    ¡°Would you look at that?  She¡¯s a right athlete she is.  Oh, Sarah I would have loved to see ye play.¡±

    ¡°They recorded it, I can download the video and bring it with me.¡±

    ¡°Please, I would love to see it.¡±

    ¡°Consider it done Grandpa.¡±

    Her grandmother was looking at something else in her room.

    ¡°Is that you all dressed up?¡±

    Sarah put the camera in front of the picture she took with her mom before the Grad dance.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Oh, you look so grown up there. Oh, we haven¡¯t seen a picture of you since ye were six. It so nice to see you grown up so well.  If you have a phone that can call us why aren¡¯t ye in quarantine?¡±

    Sarah turned the phone around and lifted up her leg showing the thing bracelet.  Then flipped it back to herself.

    ¡°Ms. Aurelius said if I put this on, I could have a goodbye party with my friends and¡­go out on a date with my¡­friend.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is so small and sleek looking, when they gave me, mine it was this big ol¡¯ thing I had to wear around my waist weighed a ton.¡±

    ¡°You had to wear one too?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Sarah, I told you we¡¯re all Sorceresses.  Every single girl born in our family since 1942 has been a Sorceress.  Some of the best in the country.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s normal for us to be this dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Oh Sarah, when I was twelve, I turned a lad I liked into a Toad when he was kissing another girl.  I¡¯m not saying I¡¯m proud of it.  But Headmistress Aurelius will get you sorted out.  She¡¯s been doing this for a long time.¡±

    ¡°So, you went to the school too?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I did.¡±

    ¡°And Grandpa too?¡±

    She laughed.

    ¡°Not bloody likely the only thing magical about him is how many plants wilt when he¡¯s passes wind.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ he¡¯s not a super?¡±

    ¡°No, he¡¯s a plain old human.¡±

    ¡°I can umm date anyone I want then?¡±

    ¡°Of course, dear, what do you think this is?¡±

    ¡°I just thought¡­ maybe they wouldn¡¯t let¡­ y¡¯know.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you poor dear.  Your dad hasn¡¯t told you anything has he?  He was always a boneheaded one.  Is he there? I¡¯d like to give him a piece of mind.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know Nan; I haven¡¯t talked to them since last night.  I¡¯m mad at them. Really, really mad. I¡¯m not sure I even want to see them again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so dramatic child. They¡¯re your parents.  You¡¯ll forgive them.¡±

    Sarah wiped up some more tears.

    ¡°Oh there, there lass.  We all have rows with our parents. Comes with growing up.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s normal phone started buzzing.  She picked up and put it down quickly her face going red.  It was Richard.

    ¡°Nan, Grandpa¡­I need to go, I got a call.¡±

    Her grandmother smiled.

    ¡°Oh, I know that look, it¡¯s a boy.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°You keep in touch.  See you in person soon.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Can¡¯t wait.¡±

    She hung up the phone and picked up her real phone trying to sound like she wasn¡¯t a nervous wreck.

    ¡°Hi.¡±

    ¡°Hey Sarah.  I¡­well you didn¡¯t answer any of my texts I got worried.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, family stuff.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool.  So that date?¡±

    ¡°Aye, I would love to, but we need to do it soon.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I am moving to Scotland soon.¡±

    ¡°Woah, what?¡±

    ¡°My parents and I, we, well we¡­ they did some bad things, so I told them I didn¡¯t want to live with them anymore.¡±

    ¡°They were?  What the fuck?  That¡¯s mental.¡±

    ¡°Aye, my grandparents are seeking temporary custody so I will need to go to Scotland to live with them.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re going to be safe. It sorta sucks that we just got¡­you know got to know each other better.¡±

    ¡°I can still call, text, just six hours difference.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to have trouble getting into school there?¡±

    ¡°No, no I am going to a really expensive private school in Germany.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cool.  Like rich people school?¡±

    ¡°From what I understand it, you either have to be very smart or very rich to go.  I talked to the Headmistress already.  She¡¯s really nice. And my grandparents said they¡¯d pay for a party¡­so maybe if you know you want to be my date.¡±

    ¡°Depends.  Do I get to kiss you again?¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°Do you want to?¡±

    ¡°Do I want too?  Does it get hot in the summer in Phoenix?¡±

    Sarah giggled.

    ¡°Is your hand okay I saw the post about the burns.¡±

    Sarah looked down at her hands that looked like they hadn¡¯t been hurt at all.

    ¡°You know, it wasn¡¯t as bad it as it looked, can¡¯t even tell it happened now.  The doctor was great.¡±

    ¡°Wow those bandages looked really thick.¡±

    ¡°I donno they used this new thingy and I healed up really fast.¡±

    ¡°Is your mom going to sue the computer people?¡±

    ¡°I donno, I haven¡¯t talked to her since I found out what she was doing to me.¡±

    ¡°Ouch.  So, where¡¯s the party?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking I¡¯d rent out Momma¡¯s Pizza for the night.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that would rock.¡±

    ¡°Maybe buy a bunch of quarters so we can play video games the whole time if we want.¡±

    ¡°I can get behind that. Who are you inviting?¡±

    ¡°I figured the soccer team, the hockey team, the football team.  You know, people I know and hang out with.  Be kind of an after grad, grad party?¡±

    ¡°Oh man this is going to be a blast.¡±

    ¡°I hope so, kind of my last breath of freedom before I¡¯m living at some stuck-up rich people school.¡±

    ¡°Do you know your grandparents well?¡±

    ¡°No, I was just talking to them for the first time when you called.¡±

    ¡°No way!  Did they even know you existed?¡±

    ¡°They did, my parents told me they were dead.¡±

    ¡°Tragic.  Are they nice?¡±

    ¡°Aye, they seem nice, very Scottish.¡±

    ¡°So is the party¡­like our date?¡±

    ¡°No.  I was hoping we could do something just the two of us before I leave.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I was thinking maybe¡­ Batting cages? Ice cream?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Oh, you want to do something so you can feel better than me at something.¡±

    ¡°No! I donno it just seems like a movie is stupid we can¡¯t even talk.¡±

    ¡°We could do other things?¡±

    ¡°Okay batting cages, ice cream, driving range and movie?¡±

    ¡°Alright I¡¯ll give you the batting cages.  And don¡¯t worry my grandparents will pay for it.¡±

    ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°They are trying to make up for lost time, let¡¯s just let them.¡±

    ¡°Okay I guess.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°How about in an hour?¡±

    ¡°Yes!  I can do that.¡±

    ¡°You know I¡¯m still going to kick your ass at the batting cages.¡±

    ¡°As if.¡±

    ¡°See you soon.¡±

    Sarah hung up the phone picked up the other phone. She pressed the number for Eyre.

    ¡°Hello Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Hello Ma¡¯am, you know how you said you¡¯d help with the date and the party?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°I was wondering could we rent my favorite pizza place for a night?¡±

    ¡°Easily done.  Give me the details and I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±

    ¡°And I was wondering¡­you know, if it¡¯s possible if you could pay for the date today with Richard?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I can. Do you need a ride?¡±

    ¡°No, I can take the bus.¡±

    ¡°You know what, no, no you can¡¯t I¡¯ll make a call. I got you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Sarah paused.

    ¡°And ma¡¯am, I called my grandparents.¡±

    ¡°What did you think?¡±

    ¡°They are wonderful.¡±

    ¡°Your grandmother was a¡­ good student.¡±

    ¡°Sometime tells me you are lying.¡±

    ¡°No, she was a good student, bit a of troublemaker.  Really into punk music.  And fighting the power.  But don¡¯t tell her I said anything.¡±

    ¡°Okay ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°When is your date?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m supposed to meet him in an hour at the sports center.¡±

    ¡°Well, you get ready, and I¡¯ll have a car there in forty-five minutes.  Just tell them where you want to go, and they¡¯ll take you.¡±

    ¡°Ma¡¯am are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure, I have fifteen agents sitting on the thumbs seven days a week, this will give them something to do.¡±

    ¡°Okay ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre hung up the phone.  Sarah bounced to her feet and ran into the washroom and started getting ready with a shower.  She tried to do her hair like she had been shown.  She gave up after the fourth try and went with a braid.  She picked a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She looked at both phones unsure of what to do with them. So, she just put one in each back pocket. She opened her door and started down the stairs.  Her mother was at the table looking over the paperwork Eyre had left, and she had her tablet out.  Sarah ignored her. She pulled on her runners and her hand was on the door handle when her mother spoke.

    ¡°Where do you think you are going?¡±

    ¡°Wherever I want.  You don¡¯t have to worry about me anymore. I have permission from my guardian.¡±

    Her mother shifted in her seat.

    ¡°Sarah, can we talk?¡±

    ¡°No mom, I¡¯m talked out.  Maybe you should have tried before you drugged me for years and tried to make me into a boy!¡±

    Sarah left and slammed the door.   Her mother rushed to the door too late as all she was able to do was see her daughter getting into a black SUV.  Sarah pulled out her phone and sent a text to everyone on her friends list that was in town and actually her friend.   Party @ Momma¡¯s pizza tomorrow 4pm.  All you can eat pizza and drink soda.  Free video games!  About five minutes later her phone started to blow up.  She hadn¡¯t even looked up to see who was driving she was so pissed about her mother when she did, she was surprised to see a girl who looked like she should still be in high school.  She had been alerted to someone¡¯s presence when the driver spoke.

    ¡°You seem like a popular girl.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°No, free pizza makes everyone excited.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, never got a taste for Pizza myself.  My sister loved it though.  Watched her eat three in one sitting.¡±

    Sarah winced.

    ¡°Did she get sick?¡±

    The teenage girl shook her head.

    ¡°No, Hazel could eat.  She was six two and looked like that wrestler.¡±

    She snapped her fingers a few times then shrugged.

    ¡°Nope, can¡¯t remember her name. She was a big girl. Not fat, just muscles upon muscles.¡±

    ¡°Did she have trouble with people making fun of her for it?¡±

    The teenager laughed.

    ¡°Hell no, I mean a couple of girls were mean to her at a ball once.¡±

    ¡°Oh, what happened?¡±

    The teenager laughed.

    ¡°She hung them from coat hooks by their corsets.¡±

    Sarah giggled.

    ¡°To bad we can¡¯t do that these days hmm. Probably get arrested for assault.¡±

    ¡°I know there is someone I would have liked to punch a few times.¡±

    ¡°I know the feeling kid.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Sarah.¡±

    ¡°I know who you are, I¡¯m Helen, I¡¯m going to be your combat instructor at school.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow, I mean, you just, look so young.¡±

    ¡°I get that a lot.  I¡¯m a hundred years old.¡±

    ¡°What? Oh¡­you¡¯re like the Headmistress.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am.  But¡­the sun?¡±

    ¡°Kind of like a lot of superstitious nonsense, just that.¡±

    ¡°I¡­well I thought. I mean.¡±

    ¡°I know, I decided to drive you myself.  Believe it or not I¡¯m an agent.  Most of us teachers are either active or former agents.  Don¡¯t be embarrassed.  I¡¯m just here to make sure you are safe. Not gawk at you and your boyfriend.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not my boyfriend, he¡¯s just a friend who¡¯s a boy, who I think I like kissing.¡±

    Helen shook her head and laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  The SUV pulled into the Sports Center.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be nearby don¡¯t worry I know how to blend into a crowd.¡±

    ¡°Do you need to be?¡±

    ¡°I have a bad feeling, but it is unclear. And my sister said: Keep her safe.  My sister doesn¡¯t mince words, she always has a meaning behind them, even if it¡¯s not obvious.  There, that¡¯s my one hint to you on how to succeed at the Academy.¡±

    ¡°I know, she somehow managed to tell me something without even coming close to mentioning it directly.¡±

    ¡°That is my sister for you, it¡¯s like a test to see if you can figure out what she¡¯s really talking about.  So don¡¯t worry about anything, I¡¯ll be nearby.  If you want an out just hold up four fingers behind your back.  I¡¯ll be your long-lost cousin.¡±

    Helen tapped her neck and her whole appearance changed.  She was wearing a baseball cap and looked three years younger and had a T-shirt and mini skirt on.

    ¡°That is so cool can I get one?¡±

    ¡°Depends on whether you want to work for MANA or not.¡±

    Helen winked and got out of the car and Sarah lost track of her in the crowd.  She shrugged and went to where she was supposed to meet Richard.  He was there looking around pensively as if he thought she wasn¡¯t going to show.  Sarah changed her approach so she could sneak up on him and he jumped two feet into the air and she grabbed his sides.  She giggled.

    ¡°You got me.¡±

    ¡°Really good.  It¡¯s all part of my strategy to out bat you. Put you off guard.¡±

    ¡°Alright then it is on.¡±

    Sarah went to the counter and purchased an hour in two batting cages that were side by side with the card that had been in the back seat of the SUV.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - A First Date

    Sarah swung her bat and hit another ball.  Putting her six ahead of Richard.  He shook his head with a smirk.  She put the bat over her shoulder walked a few steps with a swagger. Then crouched down for her next pitch.  Richard swung at his next one and hit air.

    ¡°Here I was thinking you¡¯d let me win and save my fragile male ego.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have it in me to lose on purpose.¡±

    ¡°I know that is what makes you so amazing.¡±

    ¡°Tell me more about how I¡¯m amazing?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­you have eyes.¡±

    ¡°I have eyes?¡±

    She laughed and hit another ball.

    ¡°I mean like you have cool eyes.  They¡¯re almost silver sometimes.¡±

    He hit another ball.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And you kick ass at soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, swimming. I mean you are like born to play sports.  Why didn¡¯t you play baseball?¡±

    ¡°Coach said I should play girls softball and that wasn¡¯t cool with me.¡±

    ¡°Coach was an idiot.  I¡¯ve seen you run.¡±

    Sarah hit another ball.  Richard missed his and he swung the bat around.

    ¡°I know what it is, you¡¯re distracting me.  I mean how can a guy concentrate with you in the next batting cage looking all¡­you.¡±

    The buzzer rang letting them know their time was up.

    ¡°What looking all sweaty? Are you into girls who smell like they should have two showers?  Is there something I should know here?¡±

    He blushed.

    ¡°I can get us another hour, but it will just make it worse.  Face it, last hour I was 4 ahead, now I¡¯m double.¡±

    ¡°Fine you win batting.¡±

    ¡°Do you still want to do the driving range?¡±

    ¡°Umm, let¡¯s do something inside where we can drink lots of water.  I mean I could beat you at that too, but I don¡¯t want to tire you out.¡±

    Sarah put the bat and batting helmet away.

    ¡°I¡¯m not tired but you look like you just ran a marathon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not tired¡­okay I¡¯m exhausted, how are you still going? Two hours of batting practice in this heat?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Guess they just make us girls from the Highlands tough.¡±

    The pair made their way across the road to the arcade and started to play Skee-Ball.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to win you a stuffed animal.¡±

    ¡°If you play skee-ball like you bat it is gonna be one of the tiny ones.¡±

    Richard blinked at her.

    ¡°Ouch. You can throw some serious shade.¡±

    ¡°We Scottish girls speak only the truth.  Scottish men can handle it, I guess American boys can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m going to be able to recover from that one.¡±

    He looked at her and rolled a ball and it popped into the 10000-point hole.

    ¡°Oh, was that 10000 points?  How did I do that?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Hmm you seem to be really good with balls.¡±

    He was taking another shot and when she said that he messed up and it bounced back at him.  He caught it.  He laughed.

    ¡°And they just keep coming.¡±

    Sarah laughed and bumped against him the arms touched and she lingered near him and he kissed her suddenly. Then turned and got another 10000 points.  She blushed and smiled at him.  He cleared his throat.

    ¡°Time for twenty questions or however many we can do before we end up staring at each other awkwardly.  You go first.¡±

    ¡°Umm, does it hurt being so bad at hockey?¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯m not bad at hockey.  Umm, do you miss Scotland?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Mmm, so you have to answer honestly, right? That¡¯s how this works?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, do these shorts make my ass look fat.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t like¡­you win by making me not answer!  No, okay, favorite song I¡¯ve never heard of?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, Ailein Duinn in the original Gaelic of course.¡±

    ¡°Okay break on questions, what does it sound like?¡±

    Sarah looked around self-consciously and sang it up to past the first chorus. He shivered and got goose bumps.

    ¡°I have no idea what it¡¯s about, but it sounds sad and wow you have an amazing voice.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a lament written by a woman whose betrothed died at sea.  She¡¯s saying things like the sand is your pillow and the seaweed is your bed then I would be with you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty dark.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°There is a reason Scottish people drink a lot.  We were never known for our optimistic outlooks.  But damn it we will fight you to the bitter end.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°Like Braveheart.¡±

    ¡°Them¡¯s fighting words.¡±

    He held up his hands in surrender.

    ¡°Okay what¡¯s your next question?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to kiss me again?¡±

    He leaned in and kissed her this time it lasted longer.

    ¡°Favorite movie of all time?¡±

    ¡°Breakfast Club.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s like from the 80¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I know my other answer was Breakfast at Tiffany¡¯s but I didn¡¯t think that was cool enough.¡±

    ¡°Wow you like some old movies.¡±

    She shrugged.

    ¡°When I was younger, and I first came here my mom would sit there with me on her lap and we would eat so much popcorn and just watch old movies for our whole Saturday.  We would practice our English because I went to a Gaelic speaking school in Scotland.  I wasn¡¯t very good at English.  So, we¡¯d play parts in the movies. We started with Scottish movies.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool.¡±

    He¡¯d finished his sixth game now and had so many tickets it took two of them to carry them to a table and start counting.

    ¡°My turn, what is your favorite movie?¡±

    ¡°John Wick.  I mean you can¡¯t beat that shit.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the one where his dog gets killed?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°That was pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Alright, cutest boy at school?¡±

    ¡°So hard, there¡¯s so many boys. Hmm.  She tapped her fingers and scratched her head.  I guess if Had to choose it would be you.  I¡¯m pretty sure I wore the dress better though.¡±

    He coughed a bit and lost his count.

    ¡°Too soon?¡±

    ¡°No, I was avoiding that topic because I thought it might upset you.¡±

    ¡°I was furious when I first saw it wanted to beat the crap out of Candace but¡­ now I just don¡¯t care.  It¡¯s like it¡¯s not important anymore.  She¡¯s going to be out of my life for good in a week.  I¡¯ll be going to somewhere without her and she¡¯ll still be here, stuck in her rut.  And I mean you didn¡¯t look bad in the dress.¡±

    ¡°Can I barrow it for the party tomorrow night?¡±

    ¡°Sure, you want me to do your make up too?¡±

    ¡°Would you?  I was thinking silver leggings, too much?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Momma Lucci would throw you out on your ass.¡±

    ¡°She probably would.¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be because you¡¯re wearing a dress, it¡¯d be because your legs were scaring away the rest of the customers.¡±

    ¡°Yea, she¡¯s too cool to throw out someone who is just expressing their true selves.¡±

    ¡°You know, that¡¯s something I noticed at the school Candace aside, people were pretty cool with Samantha.¡±

    ¡°Well, hey, it was weird at first.  I¡¯ve known Sam since kindergarten we used to play together all the time.  Then Sam became Samantha.  I didn¡¯t know what to say or do.  Then you showed up and were like hey Samantha, I¡¯m Sarah, what¡¯s up?  Then I thought, wow this new Scottish girl gives no fucks.  Maybe I shouldn¡¯t either.  Then everyone just sort of went with it, except Candace.  It¡¯s just too bad.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Too bad.¡±

    They stared at their drinks then started counting tickets again.

    ¡°She was a good friend, I wish she had said something, or I¡¯d paid better attention.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, that wasn¡¯t your fault.¡±

    ¡°I stopped hanging out with her when Candace started about me and her being an item because I wanted to be a boy and she wanted to be a girl.¡±

    Sarah sighed.

    ¡°Sorry, that was kind of a conversation killer.¡±

    ¡°You know what, it¡¯s okay to talk about her.  She¡¯s not some secret best left forgotten.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to put a seat aside for her tomorrow night.  Right beside me.  And I¡¯m going to talk about her.  She deserves to be remembered as a good friend.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Hell yes.  Kind of makes me think Candace got what she deserved.¡±

    ¡°She was really hurt, and it will not bring Samantha back.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but karma is a real thing, I¡¯m glad it finally caught up with her.¡±

    Sarah put another stack of tickets aside and updated her total on her phone.

    ¡°You know the police came to my house and accused me of doing it.¡±

    ¡°No shit?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I was literally in front of my computer and it was exploding when I was supposed to be doing it.¡±

    ¡°Like at exactly the same time?¡±

    ¡°From what I understand.¡±

    ¡°Freaky.¡±

    ¡°The part that bothers me is I wish I had done it.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I was ready to do something reckless when I saw the stupid video too.¡±

    ¡°So, it wasn¡¯t you either?¡±

    ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡±

    The had the tickets all counted and piled up neatly when they noticed the ticket counting machines.  And looked at each other.  They stood there both feeding the machines neither looking at the other.

    ¡°Well, that was dumb.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it was a nice talk.¡±

    The ticket count completed they compared notes.

    ¡°Wow I was only three tickets off.¡±

    Sarah looked at her total and the one she got from the machine.

    ¡°I was off ten.¡±

    ¡°I am better at an obsolete skill. Go me.¡±

    He walked off and came back with a stuffed unicorn that was half the height of Sarah.

    ¡°Okay, you surprised me.  I have no idea how you did it.¡±

    He rubbed the back of his neck.

    ¡°So, my dad he brings me here all the time and we play together.  He told me it was the way he used to impress girls.¡±

    Sarah fake gasped.

    ¡°Oh, I totally got played, let¡¯s go to the batting cages.  Oh, I¡¯m tired and hot let¡¯s go inside.¡±

    ¡°Are you impressed.¡±

    As an answer Sarah leaned in and kissed him.  He blushed.

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a yes.¡±

    ¡°I see only one problem with it. I¡¯m going to have to buy it its own plane seat to fly it to Scotland.¡±

    He laughed.  He then quirked his head to the side and looked at her ankle.

    ¡°What the heck is that? New style of jewelry?¡±

    ¡°Aye it¡¯s from the: My parents abducted me twice line of jewelry. Do you think it clashes?¡±

    He blinked at her.

    ¡°Child protective services was worried my parents my nab me and take me away so I¡¯m wearing an ankle monitor.  It¡¯s the deal I made with the lady who came to my house.  I get to go on a date and have a party before I have to leave, I wear this so I can¡¯t be vanished again.¡±

    ¡°My brother has one for house arrest his is way bigger.¡±

    She shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know it is so light I forgot it was there.¡±

    ¡°So, like they know exactly where you are right this minute?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you weren¡¯t thinking of kidnapping me, were you?¡±

    ¡°Well maybe but that plan is shot now.¡±

    ¡°No plan survives contact with the enemy.¡±

    ¡°You quoting the art of war again?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the art of war.¡±

    ¡°I thought it was.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not, I¡¯ve read it about twenty times, and that is not in it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s in the original Chinese version.¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯ve read it in Chinese.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.¡±

    She shrugged with a twinkle in her eyes.

    ¡°Now I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯re bullshitting or not.¡±

    ¡°That is the art of war.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes you are like this mad genius.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m certainly crazy, I¡¯m not sure about the genius part.¡±

    She had the unicorn in her arms they walked back to the SUV.

    ¡°What movie should we go see?¡±

    Sarah blushed slightly.

    ¡°How about something neither one of us care if we are missing because we¡¯re kissing.¡±

    ¡°See? Genius.¡±

    ¡°But something we won¡¯t hate if we have to watch it because we get bored of kissing.¡±

    Sarah pulled out her special phone and sent a text to the number Helen had given her before she could finish Helen was by the SUV in a professional looking suit.  She opened the door for the pair.  Sarah slid across the seat first.  Richard got in after gawking at Helen for a few seconds.  Helen got in and started driving towards the theater she glanced back when they were stopped at a light.

    ¡°You two look hungry, food first?¡±

    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡±

    Helen nodded and pulled into a turning lane and drove along a side road.  Richard kept looking between the two.  He sent Sarah a text.

    Who is she?

    You want the truth or like¡­can I make something interesting up?

    Truth and then something interesting <devil emoji>

    Truth: My grandparents hired a bodyguard.  Interesting:  I¡¯m a world class hacker and MI6 sent agents to retrieve me because I stole data from an evil syndicate and I¡¯m the only one who can stop a nuclear terrorist attack.  My agent number is l33t.

    <ROFL emoji>

    Richard put his phone away.  Sarah followed his example.

    ¡°Okay, how about the Mary Poppins re-master ¨C re-release?¡±

    ¡°Umm, wasn¡¯t that made in the like¡­sixties or something?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I like it.¡±

    ¡°Fine I guess I could uh watch that with you.¡±

    He leaned into kiss her, and Helen¡¯s eyes flicked to the mirror.

    ¡°This is a no touching car. Boys and girls.¡±

    Sarah smiled slightly and Richard jumped back.

    ¡°You want to kiss do it in the theater, I¡¯m not running a love mobile.¡±

    She pulled into a fast-food restaurant and ordered all three of them food. They parked and ate.  It was a short drive to the theater and the pair went inside and as predicted they didn¡¯t see much of the movie hands may have wandered to places they shouldn¡¯t have, above clothes of course.  They were holding hands when they left the theater it was night by that time. Sarah felt a hand grab her from behind.  Before she could react, the hand was gone, and someone hit the ground hard then another one hit the ground hard and when she looked back Helen had two people on the ground with a gun to one of their heads and a knee in the other¡¯s back.  It happened so fast the only person who seemed to have a clue what was going on was Helen who looked up at Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah, love, be a dear and call my sister?¡±

    She was going through the two men¡¯s pockets.  Sarah called Eyre.

    ¡°Hi Sarah, how did the date go?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I¡­ guess good, but umm two men tried to grab me and Ms. Aurelius told me to call you.¡±

    ¡°Put it on viddy please.¡±

    Sarah pressed the button and pointed it at Helen and the two men Helen held something up and Eyre swore in a language Sarah strangely understood but had never heard before.

    ¡°Let them up we¡¯ll sort it out at the station, get the boy home.¡±

    ¡°Sure, thing sis.¡±

    Richard was very confused and looking between everyone there.  Helen stood up and put her gun back in its holster.  A crowd was forming.  Helen looked at Sarah.

    ¡°Give me your phones.¡±

    Sarah gave them both up.

    ¡°Go with them don¡¯t say anything. Don¡¯t do anything to them either okay? Just stay calm my sister will take care of this.¡±

    Helen grabbed Richard¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Come on lover boy time to get you home.¡±

    ¡°What about Sarah?¡±

    ¡°The police want to chat with her about something she had nothing to do with.¡±

    One of the men drew his gun and pointed it at Helen.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just leave; You assaulted a police officer.¡±

    Helen used her free hand to pull out two pieces of paper.

    ¡°The first says I have diplomatic immunity the second says I have all the powers, responsibilities and rights of a member of the secret services, signed by the president.  And you boys are in a lot of trouble.  You are swimming in shit, and you are going to get flushed. Hope you weren¡¯t counting on that pension.¡±

    ¡°We need to call this in verify.¡±

    ¡°So, you can explain to your department why you¡¯re facing obstruction charges from the Secret Service?¡±

    ¡°Just let her go Deacon, we got who we came for.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll need her phones.¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t, National Security. You have no authorization to these devices.  Don¡¯t like it take it up with my boss the President.  I¡¯m sure her office will love a call.  Maybe you can explain why you are detaining a National Security asset while you¡¯re at it.  I would love to be a fly on the wall for that call.  I mean why on Earth would a British citizen be a deputized agent of the United States government, and be protecting an asset she was ordered to protect by the president? I mean it couldn¡¯t be that important. Could it?¡±

    She tugged on Richard¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Come on kid, let¡¯s get you home.¡±

    Richard watched as Sarah was pushed to the ground and cuffed, he thought it was kind of a crappy way to end the date.

 Earth 2 - Bad Crime Drama

    The detectives put Sarah in their SUV with a bit roughly. They were obviously put off by the Helen incident. They were chatting in the front of the car and Sarah looked down at her ankle limiter and wondered what would have happened if she had not been wearing it.

    ¡°How the hell did she get the drop on you Bill?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know that was some special forces shit. She must be a spy or SIS or something. She took us both down before I could even draw my weapon. I¡¯ve never seen someone move that fast.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should have checked with HQ before we decided to grab her.¡±

    ¡°Hell no, we¡¯re not going to let these British fucks take her out from under our noses. She¡¯s an attempted murder suspect. She was preparing to flee the country.¡±

    ¡°Yea, but she literally had a letter from the President.¡±

    ¡°Feds sticking their nose in our business. Fuckers.¡±

    The one who had been called Deacon looked back at her.

    ¡°What makes you so special kid?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Not much of a talker, are you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll talk.¡±

    ¡°Aye, I¡¯m a talker, once I start can¡¯t shut me up.¡±

    ¡°You know they love mouthy ones in prison. That¡¯s where you¡¯re going. That girl is never going to walk again, she¡¯ll be eating with a tube for life. What kind of psychopath does that?¡±

    Sarah frowned and looked down. She looked guilty because she felt guilty. She hadn¡¯t meant to do it, but she had done it. Maybe she should go to prison.

    ¡°You look guilty, this is going to be a slam dunk.¡±

    They pulled into the station and dragged her into interrogation. They hooked her cuffs to the table and left her there for a while. Finally returning with coffees and a few forms.

    ¡°You have anything to say to us before we finalize this arrest? We saw the video pretty nasty. I understand why you did it, but why so badly? Come on tell us, give us a confession, the extenuating circumstances, age, you¡¯ll get probation. Make us draw this out I could see them charging you as an adult. So, give us something, what do you say?¡±

    ¡°Aye, I want my mom, who is my lawyer.¡±

    ¡°Oh, little girl, your mom is going to be charged with aiding and abetting she can¡¯t be your lawyer. So, work with us here, maybe the charges against your parents will get dropped.¡±

    ¡°Is my Scottish accent confusing you? Dinnae understand me?¡±

    She spoke the next sentence very clearly and concisely.

    ¡°I said I want a lawyer and I¡¯m done speaking.¡±

    The detective mimicking every bad movie detective slammed his hand on the desk.

    ¡°Kid you are looking at some serious charges here, we¡¯re trying to help you out.¡±

    Sarah shrugged. She could feel the panic rising in her but with the limiter she was able to push it aside. It was like the thing cleared her mind, or maybe it was the fact she hadn¡¯t taken any other pills besides her ADHD meds in two days. Whatever it was she liked it. She just looked down at her very healthy-looking hands. She would probably be a lot more freaked out if she wasn¡¯t one hundred percent sure Eyre was on her way with help. They prodded at her for another two hours and she didn¡¯t say another word. She didn¡¯t even look at them. She was kind of afraid she¡¯d start losing it and hurt them, so she kept looking at her hands. The door opened and Eyre walked in like a boss.

    ¡°Release her.¡±

    ¡°Who the fuck are you?¡±

    ¡°Officer Deacon, this is the part where you unlock her cuffs, apologize to for detaining her for so long and thank God that I am in good mood.¡±

    ¡°Fuck off, I have no idea who you are. She¡¯s wanted for attempted murder.¡±

    ¡°No, you are trying to get her to confess to attempted murder without her lawyer present. She¡¯s a clever girl I know she asked for one. Your captain was ready to come in here and suspend you both. I told him I¡¯d chat with you first maybe it wasn¡¯t necessary. But questioning a suspect after they ask for a lawyer, wow.¡±

    ¡°Look lady, you can¡¯t come in here and order us around.¡±

    Eyre smiled and listened patiently.

    ¡°Are you done? Anything else to add?¡±

    ¡°Who do you think you are?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯m the Federal Agent who has her in custody. See the ankle monitor?¡±

    They both looked at Sarah¡¯s ankle, who in an uncharacteristic act of bratiness lifted her leg to show it off. They looked at each other.

    ¡°So, remove her cuffs, apologize to the young lady and we¡¯ll be out of your hair.¡±

    ¡°No, no we¡¯re not going to do that, we got her for this attempted murder, I don¡¯t care what you feds want.¡±

    Eyre held up her finger. Reached into her pack and pulled out two tablets she put them down on the table.

    ¡°These are classified, but I¡¯ll show you, you tell anyone want you saw on them, you¡¯ll be thrown in a federal cell so dark people will think you vanished off the face of the earth.¡±

    She pressed play on both.

    ¡°Look at the time stamps.¡±

    The two detectives watched the video of Sarah¡¯s computer exploding on her and Candace¡¯s assault by a masked figure that hadn¡¯t been in the video Sarah saw.

    ¡°Tell me how my asset got over to the victim¡¯s house assaulted her then got back to her own house that is three miles away to sit at her computer. Did she run back and forth superfast? If you can explain how that all tracks together, I am willing to discuss letting you keep her.¡±

    ¡°How did you get these videos?¡±

    ¡°The girl you have here, is a hacker. She has violated the computer fraud and abuse act so many times that they¡¯re thinking of renaming it after her. She is also extremely good at finding things she shouldn¡¯t, she found something the Russians didn¡¯t like, hence the virus that blew up her computer in an attempt to kill her. I was keeping an eye on an asset. The other one has been going after her hard core so I thought maybe she might be up to something, so I had her computer bugged too. This girl is so valuable and dangerous that the president declared a national emergency just to get her into custody and transport to Britain where we can debrief her and detain her. She¡¯s not your attempted murderer but she is dangerous. I¡¯d be less worried about her beating someone to death then you suddenly finding yourself legally dead with all your accounts frozen or finding yourself under investigation for child porn. This girl could probably do it with a cell phone. Yours haven¡¯t been near her at all have they?¡±

    She glanced at Sarah who was still staring at her hands.

    ¡°Have they?¡±

    They looked at each other and checked their pockets.

    ¡°Good, she had some cell phones that had no internet connection so she couldn¡¯t do much damage.¡±

    ¡°If she is so dangerous, why was she out on a date?¡±

    ¡°Detective, I¡¯m assuming you don¡¯t know much about intelligence operations, so let me give you the briefest of lessons, she is the only person who knows a secret. She is willing to share that secret for two things, one, she got to go on her date with her boyfriend uninterrupted, and two she gets to have a going away party with all of her friends. You two have jeopardized our deal. Thank you for fucking it up. She could be the difference between two hundred agents living or dying and you gung-ho cunts drag her in here without even checking with your Captain, or the DA, who were both provided with a copy of this evidence exonerating her. You might have even compromised her ID, the Russians only had an IP address before now they might have her name. So uncuff her, you can expect to be suspended.¡±

    Deacon fished for his keys and unlocked the cuffs. Eyre put her own cuffs on Sarah then grabbed her by the arm. She leaned in whispered to Sarah as they were walking out of the station.

    ¡°If I ever catch you doing what I just did you¡¯ll be in detention until you¡¯re legal drinking age.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only two years from now in Germany, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre smiled, it was a slight one that she tried to conceal from Sarah.

    ¡°Drugs are wearing off, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Good thing they don¡¯t know I barely know how to turn on my computer. So¡­ umm Ms¡­Headmistress¡­ could you do that thing you did for me for Candace? I don¡¯t think I can live with knowing she is like¡­ messed up¡­ But I mean if she had a few broken bones left I¡¯d be okay with that.¡±

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°She¡¯s being looked after; I¡¯ve got someone on it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre nodded

    ¡°Sorry your date got ruined.¡±

    ¡°I mean it could have been worse my dad could have caught us kissing and been a Scottish dad.¡±

    Eyre laughed. Eyre stopped and looked around. Sarah felt it too. Her eyes focused on the gun immediately. Sarah blinked as she watched Eyre reach out and snag a bullet out of midair then another but a third hit Sarah in the shoulder. She didn¡¯t feel it hit she felt the burning afterwards and collapsed against Eyre. Eyre caught a third and fourth bullet and before the fifth could be fired an officer tackled the man with the gun. Eyre held Sarah up.

    ¡°Sorry Sarah, I couldn¡¯t get them all.¡±

    Sarah had tears flowing now. This was a new kind of pain for her.

    ¡°Shh, shh Sarah I got you, we¡¯ll get this taken care of we just need to get the bullet out before I can heal you. Hit your shoulder, nothing vital there.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Sarah was close to blacking out. She was used to pain from training hard, but this wasn¡¯t that. It was so much worse like the time she broke a bone. She overheard the man ranting.

    ¡°She turned my baby girl into a vegetable and you¡¯re just letting her go?¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes were starting to close she muttered.

    ¡°What is this, a bad crime drama?¡±

    Eyre quirked an eyebrow at that. She scooped the unconscious Sarah up in her arms. The captain was rushing towards her.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, we¡¯ll get you an escort to the hospital, full police protection for your asset.¡±

    ¡°I think you lot have done enough. We¡¯ll take it from here we don¡¯t let innocent fourteen-year-old girls get shot. Fuck!¡±

    Eyre rushed out. Helen saw her coming and jumped out of the SUV and helped Eyre get Sarah into the back seat.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know we were walking out of the station and some man came out of nowhere and tried emptying his entire clip into her. I caught most of them but missed one. Guess I¡¯m getting slow.¡±

    ¡°Something doesn¡¯t feel right, been having this feeling like we¡¯re being watched.¡±

    ¡°I did too, and the police were acting strange, and that man. It was like Sarah said, like we were acting out a bad crime drama.¡±

    Helen closed the door behind Eyre and jumped in the driver¡¯s seat. The tires spun as she peeled out. Eyre pulled a medical kit from her pack.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t think mom would have one of these.¡±

    ¡°You know she was a doctor for like thirty years before she went to the past right sis?¡±

    ¡°I wish she was here now, god damn it I¡¯m tearing her up trying to get this bullet out.¡±

    ¡°Should I pull over?¡±

    ¡°No, something is not right here.¡±

    Helen slammed her feet on the breaks and ducked and what could only be described as small stalagmites flew from the fingers of a woman who was blocking their way. Piercing the armored plexiglass of the SUV¡¯s windshield and embedding in the seat a few flying out the rear window. She slammed her foot on the gas and pulled into a skid around a corner and down an alley between two buildings. More of the spikes of rock hit the hatch at the back of the SUV embedding themselves in it.

    ¡°Shit sis there is a super attacking us.¡±

    ¡°Did you recognize her?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s gotta be a PL7 though. Those are hitting hard enough to go through armor.¡±

    ¡°Bet they have a telepath too, was probably controlling the cops or influencing them. Which is why they seemed like bad actors from a crime drama.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t they just take control of her and walk her to them?¡±

    ¡°Donno, maybe they can¡¯t. She is no normal super.¡±

    Helen made a quick turn.

    ¡°God damn it I cannot get it out with us moving.¡±

    ¡°Then get her to do it with her TK.¡±

    ¡°She can barely do it when she¡¯s mad, what makes you think she can do fine control in a moving vehicle with people shooting at us?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any better ideas, unless you want to go to a hospital with supers chasing us on Earth-2 where they¡¯re not supposed to exist.¡±

    The stone spikes started to shiver and move. Helen grabbed the nearest and threw it out her side window then reached for the next.

    ¡°Bad news sis, she¡¯s a PL9 or 10 she¡¯s controlling them remotely.¡±

    ¡°Get rid of the ones up there and call this in. We need support ASAP.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the lead agent over here, what are the orders? Capture or kill?¡±

    Eyre swore under her beath.

    ¡°Put them down. Make sure the evidence is erased.¡±

    Helen nodded with approval. She threw the other spike that managed to get in the car out the window and into the road hard enough for it to get stuck in the asphalt. She hit her hands free.

    ¡°This is Raven. Fox advises - Activate all assets. Tracking multiple supers. At least two. One PL10 earth manipulation. Another PL11 mind manipulation remote. Task all satellites to North America. Trace for signatures known and unknown. Notify treaty countries of hostile super activity. Use global assets to sort Intel. Find them and bring them in cold. Silence protocol is in effect. I repeat bring them in cold, silence protocol is in effect. Authorization - 1BT84$K5E¡±

    Eyre swore again.

    ¡°Call the President, have her send someone to grab her brothers and parents. Tell her the asset is secure and that there are hostile Super¡¯s in Phoenix.¡±

    ¡°Sis, they haven¡¯t signed the treaty.¡±

    ¡°I bloody well know that, but she can help us cover this shit storm up.¡±

    Helen started making another call and Eyre shook Sarah and slapped her on the face eventually. Sarah screamed as she woke up.

    ¡°Sarah, love, I need you to pull the bullet out so I can heal you.¡±

    Helen suddenly swerved and skidded sideways. She ducked as bullets hit the side of the armored vehicle.

    ¡°How the fuck are they finding us?¡±

    Helen pulled out her pistol and returned fire. Bullets impacted the armored glass of the back driver¡¯s side window.

    ¡°Helen we can¡¯t stay here the earth manipulator might catch up.¡±

    ¡°I know that but..¡±

    ¡°Get us out of here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to do us any good if they can find us!¡±

    Helen put the gun on the seat and slammed the SUV into gear and went down another alley. Sarah was crying. Eyre¡¯s attempts to get the bullet out in the fast-moving SUV had torn up the wound pretty badly.

    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­I can¡¯t¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can. If you can break fifteen bones in someone¡¯s body from miles away, you can pull one tiny bullet out.¡±

    ¡°Limiter¡­¡±

    ¡°Limit, not stop. Sarah try. You¡¯re bleeding out and I can¡¯t save you until we get the bullet out and we can¡¯t stop right now. I can¡¯t do it when the car is moving, you¡¯re the only one here with TK.¡±

    Sarah was sobbing.

    ¡°It hurts.¡±

    ¡°I know, push past the pain. I know you can do it. You¡¯re a Grey. You¡¯re from a family of the best battlemages our world has ever produced. You can do this.¡±

    ¡°How? I don¡¯t know how?¡±

    Sarah cried out again as they hit a bump.

    ¡°Focus on the bullet. It doesn¡¯t belong inside you. Picture two fingers reaching in and pulling it out. Do it slowly. Put your hand over it, it helps you focus the energy.¡±

    Sarah was still sobbing. Eyre stroked her hair. Sarah put the hand of her good arm over the bullet wound and she closed her eyes but nothing happened. She started speaking in a strange language she was not with it all.

    ¡°I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t.¡±

    Eyre looked at her funny.

    ¡°Sarah I can¡¯t understand you.¡±

    ¡°I cannae, I cannea.¡±

    ¡°Yes you can, focus, the only pain you are feeling is the pain you are letting yourself feel. Imagine it gone. Imagine you are laying in your bed comfortable and relaxed and there is an annoying itch you have to scratch on your shoulder, it won¡¯t go away until you scratch the inside.¡±

    Sarah cried out again as they hit another bump. Helen swerved again.

    ¡°They¡¯re tracking us Eyre, they¡¯re still tracking us.¡±

    Eyre didn¡¯t answer she was looking down at Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah you need to get it out. You can¡¯t stop the itch until it is out.¡±

    Sarah put her hand over the bullet wound and closed her eyes again. She cried out as the bullet dislodged and scraped against the sides of the wound.

    ¡°It hurts.¡±

    ¡°I see it, you just need to move it a little further Sarah.¡±

    Sarah closed her eyes and screamed again as the bullet jerked towards the entry point. Eyre reached down with the medical kit¡¯s tweezers and pulled it out. She put it in a pocket in the med kit. She put a bandage over the wound holding it tight. She chanted a few words and did enough healing to stop the bleeding.

    ¡°Not going to heal her all the way?¡±¡¯

    ¡°No, she needs a transfusion, or she will die and if I heal her all the way how do I explain her being down half a human worth of blood. And we¡¯re being chased by who knows how many supers I can¡¯t waste the blood healing myself. You¡¯re going to be fine. Good girl Sarah, good girl.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s hand fell to her side. She was pale from blood loss.

    ¡°That¡¯s all well and good but every time I think I¡¯ve lost them someone else shows up. How are they tracking us?¡±

    Eyre started patting Sarah¡¯s unconscious form and checking her pockets and clothes for anything that might be a GPS tracker.

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    Helen looked in the rear view.

    ¡°Nothing but the ankle monitor.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s impossible it¡¯s a closed network.¡±

    ¡°Not impossible if they have someone on the inside.¡±

    Eyre looked down at the unconscious Sarah. She pulled out her phone and went to an app and tapped a few commands. The limiter fell off, she picked up the halves and put them together and reactivated it.

    ¡°Radio in that the asset died in transit to hospital, say we could not heal too much blood loss. See if we stop running into people.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯ll get away.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re going to anyway if someone is on the inside they¡¯ll be hiding their signatures.¡±

    ¡°But.¡±

    ¡°Helen, do it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Helen hit a button on her phone.

    ¡°Raven here. Asset is cold. Blood loss. Keep tracking hostiles.¡±

    She hung up.

    ¡°Happy?¡±

    ¡°Yes. With the monitor off but activated it will look like she¡¯s got no vitals.¡±

    ¡°I could have taken them.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you could have. But that isn¡¯t the point of this op is it? It¡¯s to get her safely across the border.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯d just pulled her in¡­¡±

    ¡°Then we would have been sitting ducks in quarantine instead of mobile.¡±

    ¡°Go dark. Pull the cards from everything even her phone.¡±

    ¡°Aye ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be snarky with me kiddo. I was doing this¡­¡±

    Helen made a face.

    ¡°No, you weren¡¯t. And I¡¯m not pulling the cards. I¡¯m just going to put them in mom¡¯s pack like I always do, you always do it the hard way.¡±

    Helen put the phones in her mom¡¯s old pack.

    ¡°I forgot it could do that.¡±

    ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°We need burner phones. Then you¡¯re going to a hospital.¡±

    Helen started driving.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Luke Air Force Base.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°She needs a transfusion, and it has a hospital. It is also a secure facility.¡±

    ¡°Why would they even let you on base?¡±

    ¡°Because as far as they know she¡¯s a high value asset, so high value the President declared a national emergency suspending all of her human rights and authorized her extraordinary rendition. On paper she¡¯s a fourteen-year-old hacker who breached numerous countries secure information networks. Gaining access to a massive amount of secure information valuable to the US and her allies. And I¡¯m an Agent of the US Government.¡±

    Helen pulled into a 24-hour convenience store¡¯s parking lot. It had advertisements for pay as you go phones.

    ¡°Use our off the books ID.¡±

    ¡°Do I look like an amateur?¡±

    ¡°Only half the time these days.¡±

    Helen stuck her middle finger up at her sister and went inside. Eyre kept holding Sarah¡¯s head in her lap. She had no idea why she had such an attachment to the girl already. She usually wasn¡¯t one to get emotionally involved with students, better to be at arm¡¯s length. She looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Her sixth sense wasn¡¯t triggering at the moment. She saw Helen approach and she started pulling the stone projectiles out of the back of the vehicle and threw them in a garbage can. Eyre laid Sarah¡¯s head down gently. And got out of the car. Hazel handed her one of the burners.

    ¡°What am I doing now?¡±

    ¡°Go to a hospital. Pull your phone out of the pack, unlock the monitor and put it on someone who¡¯s alive. I don¡¯t care. Call in that the asset was able to be resuscitated, that you are creating an emergency rift into Earth-Prime in ten minutes Tell them you can¡¯t get a signal through to the other side and you need them to have emergency personal at that location on the other side. Do that to each agent we have here. Do it with one, wait fifteen minutes, then on to the next. See when the bad guys show up. Kill them quietly and then take that agent into custody.¡±

    ¡°You know, it¡¯s almost like you expected this mess. I¡¯m wondering if you didn¡¯t release information about this kid to people you shouldn¡¯t have on the other side so you could find moles.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something mom would do. I don¡¯t risk my student¡¯s lives.¡±

    ¡°You let her call her grandparents, you think they could have?¡±

    ¡°No Grace Grey is as solid as they come. She has wanted a relationship with her Granddaughter since she was six. No, we have someone inside the school, possibly HQ. We are going to have to find out who. But I need to get her treatment. Her pulse is getting weaker. Remember we need this handled quietly.¡±

    ¡°What about humans with them?¡±

    ¡°No survivors, no witnesses. Do I have to be any clearer with that? Operation is to clear the board. If you can get some intel from them before they die good, but it is not primary.¡±

    ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am¡±

    Helen saluted sarcastically.

    ¡°You¡¯re a real brat sometimes.¡±

    Helen shook her head and walked over and started stealing a car. Eyre got back in the SUV and started driving towards the Air Force Base.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - Rabbit Holes and Where they Lead.

    Eyre pulled up to the gate of the Air Force base. Things were getting fairly bad for Sarah her pulse was thready she could hear it. She shielded her eyes from the flashlight that the Airman was shining in her face. Her headlights were out because they had been damaged by gunfire and rock shards.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am are you alright?¡±

    Eyre looked at the dried blood on her hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine but I have a high value asset in the back set she has a gunshot wound I need a secure hospital to get her patched up. She¡¯s lost a lot of blood and her pulse is thready this is an emergency.¡±

    He nodded motioned to his partner to come watch the car. He reached through the window and put his fingers on her Sarah¡¯s neck. Checked the wound. Swore as he spoke into his radio.

    ¡°Gunshot wound Front gate; She¡¯s got a weak pulse need help now!¡±

    The Senior Airman waved for Eyre to get out of the car. She had turned off her holo-web so she was wearing only her Atlantean armor that looked like an armored body suit, her pack and a holstered pistol and a knife in her boot. She¡¯d put the sword away. She got out with her hands up. He glanced at his partner and instead of patting her down just took her pistol. He took her pack and looked inside it pulling out her ID and the National Emergency Declaration, the executive order authorizing her as a federal agent and the documentation showing that all of Sarah¡¯s rights had been revoked. He held up a flashlight and read them over. By the time he was halfway through the first document a Humvee had screeched to a halt on the other side of the gate and four women were loading Sarah onto a stretcher and started taking her vitals. He kept reading his eyes getting wider.

    ¡°Call the General.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding it¡¯s one in the morning.¡±

    The Senior Airman flashed his light on the President¡¯s signature.

    ¡°Call the fucking General.¡±

    He put the documents back in her pack and put it over his shoulder and kept his assault rifle leveled at Eyre. Eyre kept her arms up. The Senior Airman was now distracted by the damage to the car. It had been hit by several armor piercing rounds. The reinforced run flat tires had several holes in them and were now deflated.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am someone really wants you dead.¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°The asset very valuable to us alive, just as valuable to them dead.¡±

    The other gate guard¡¯s head poked out of the gate office.

    ¡°He wants to talk to her.¡±

    The one guarding her motioned with his head and kept his weapon trained on her. She took the offered phone. The first words she said were.

    ¡°Is this line secure, Sir?¡±

    ¡°It is not.¡±

    ¡°Then I cannot say much.¡±

    ¡°Understood. What do you need?¡±

    ¡°I need patching up. I need security and I need this to not get out. And I need transport that can¡¯t be traced.¡±

    ¡°I will send an escort. Give the phone Senior Airman please.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±

    The Senior Airman said four very curt yes sirs and his cheeks grew redder, then hung up. He made a motion for his partner to lower his weapon.

    ¡°Return her things. He¡¯s authorized her.¡±

    ¡°Even the gun?¡±

    ¡°We are to return everything, and we are under strict orders to keep this need to know. Call motor pool he also told me to get this¡­¡±

    He motioned to the SUV.

    ¡°Out of sight.¡±

    One opened the gate and the other drove it through and behind a privacy fence that bordered the base. The other handed Eyre back all her things.

    ¡°Sorry ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I wouldn¡¯t expect anything less of US forces. Its why I came here.¡±

    He saluted her. She saluted him back. She walked inside the base and crossed her arms and paced. It took about ten minutes for her ride to show up. It was another Humvee. She got in and was driven to the base hospital by a female private who said nothing and kept her eyes front. When they arrived, Eyre was met by the base commander who looked like he was still ready to sleep but he had his uniform on. He met her halfway and motioned for her follow him.

    ¡°She is in surgery. They are hopeful, that¡¯s all I got.¡±

    Eyre nodded. She crossed with her arms and wrapped her hands around her biceps.

    ¡°That kid is really this important?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°She could save thousands of lives. If she survives.¡±

    ¡°Jesus. So young, I have a daughter that age.¡±

    ¡°She poked her nose in where she shouldn¡¯t, and where we haven¡¯t been able to. It makes her valuable. I leaked info that she is deceased, it is important she stays that way at least on paper.¡±

    ¡°If she¡¯s dead they think they got her and it¡¯s over.¡±

    ¡°That is my hope, sir. I appreciate you taking us in.¡±

    ¡°I saw your SUV on camera. Major they must make you Brits with nerves of steel it looks like it has been a through a war.¡±

    ¡°Comes with the job. At least it was armored.¡±

    ¡°Why all the hardware?¡±

    ¡°That girl in there is one of the most dangerous people in the US. She has Intel MI6 and the CIA need, so she is on our side now. That means people want her dead.¡±

    ¡°A girl that age is that dangerous? You have to be joking.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t go into detail, but she understands computers and networks in a way few do, she is like a savant at breaking through firewalls, and into systems. Basically, if she wasn¡¯t on our side, now, they¡¯d be renaming the computer fraud and abuse act after her.¡±

    ¡°But that paperwork you have basically turns her into a piece of equipment. She has no rights. That seems like a lot of trouble.¡±

    ¡°Her parents were resistant. Once she is off US soil they can fight until they¡¯re blue in face. She¡¯ll never be coming back.¡±

    ¡°That seems drastic, she looks like she¡¯s twelve.¡±

    ¡°The fact the president signed these after a twenty-minute briefing should tell you how dangerous she is. She¡¯s a mother who lost her daughter. She knows exactly what we were asking. And she did it anyway.¡±

    He went a bit pale.

    ¡°We need her alive. In a world where computers do almost everything for us, she is a living weapon, she may as well be a walking talking nuke. Russia¡¯s tried to track her down. Her response was to launch one of their own cruise missiles at the building they were doing it from. Killed sixty people.¡±

    He looked a bit sick to his stomach.

    ¡°She¡¯s a kid.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a kid who up until today was well on the way to working for us willingly. Now I¡¯m not so sure she¡¯s going to be cooperative.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°We made agreements with her. I know with the paperwork we could just snatch her. But she wanted a party with her friends, paid for by us. Going to be hard to swing with people after a gaping bullet wound in her shoulder.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a teenager.¡±

    ¡°I will cut off a wing of the hospital. Post guards until she can travel.¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°No need. Once she is out and stable, we should move.¡±

    ¡°She has a gunshot wound and is in critical condition.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to risk it. I have boots on the ground dealing with the foreign actors. I¡¯m more concerned with how they found out any of what was going on. I had an ankle monitor on her that was on a closed network. Someone is working for the other side and was giving away our location.¡±

    ¡°It is not on her now, is it?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°No, we¡¯re using it as a decoy. When they go to find it, my agent will deal with them.¡±

    ¡°One?¡±

    ¡°She is efficient. Need the loop small. Which is my concern with staying here. If someone in the president¡¯s office is feeding intel, we could be looking at an attempt here. The real problem is if they could track her monitor, then they know where our plane is. So that is compromised too. We¡¯re going to have to drive.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°You seem to have it all under control.¡±

    ¡°I hope so. Thanks again General.¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡±

    He walked off, probably to get some sleep. Eyre paced. It was four am before Sarah was out of surgery. The lead surgeon approached Eyre.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be fine, was pretty bad, you did a lot of damage trying to remove the bullet.¡±

    ¡°Had to be done. Could have been a tracker or poisoned.¡±

    ¡°I get that, we ran a full tox screen. Came back positive for amphetamines, high levels of what seems to be some form of mind control cocktail that should never be given together under any circumstances. She has very low levels of hormones. I¡¯m concerned someone has been dosing her with puberty blockers and anti-psychotic meds. Kid that age should not be on any of that if they want her to be normal.¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°I know. It has been dealt with. She has ADHD, so amphetamines are to be expected.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m beating around the bush here. She needs detox and she¡¯ll need round the clock medical supervision for it. Between that and the gunshot wound. She needs to be in a hospital. A real hospital.¡±

    ¡°It will be dealt with. How long until the anesthetic wears off?¡±

    ¡°Thirty minutes give or take.¡±

    ¡°Okay get her ready for transport as soon as she is awake.¡±

    ¡°It is not safe to move her.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter it needs to be done.¡±

    ¡°You will put her life in danger if you move her.¡±

    ¡°I am well aware of that but I¡¯m doing it.¡±

    ¡°I am writing an official protest in my notes.¡±

    ¡°That is fine. I will take full responsibility.¡±

    He stormed off. Eyre paced some more she received a text message about fifteen minutes before she as due to collect Sarah. Food you asked for is cold, going to complain to delivery driver now. She responded. That sort of food is better warm. She waited several seconds, and a response came, I agree. She put the phone away. She paced. She still needed transportation. She could fly but that wouldn¡¯t help Sarah with her that injured. She still couldn¡¯t waste the blood to fully heal her yet. She couldn¡¯t call in transport either. It would be dawn soon which would nix any of her vampire abilities. She went to the surgery recovery room where they were prepping Sarah for a transport.

    ¡°You can stop. I¡¯ll need her to stay here for few more hours.¡±

    To say the nurse who was working on prepping her looked relieved would be an understatement. Eyre went back to the waiting area and continued pacing. If operations on this side were compromised, it meant MANA was compromised. If they were getting through, they were using their own transportation network. She swore under her breath. Mycilli was the one behind this. She shook her head. He had always been a problem even in school. Super supremacy. She paced there for a couple of hours trying to figure out where the portal could be. It could be anywhere in the world. She should have seen this coming. Mycilli had been getting bolder since he managed to erase his signature from MANA records. She paused, maybe he hadn¡¯t, maybe MANA was more compromised than she realized her eyes went wide at the realization.

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    Eyre looked up and it was a woman wearing a Naval Intelligence uniform.

    ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t realize anyone was here.¡±

    ¡°You are the British SIS Major.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I am here to provide assistance. I was notified by command to report here and provide any aid necessary to you.¡±

    She showed her ID and orders. Eyre looked them over, more so she was listening to sixth sense that was telling her the human before her was being honest. She had no way of knowing the motivations of those who sent her, however. Lt Cmdr. Carly Shepard.

    ¡°Were you briefed on the value of this asset?¡±

    ¡°I was told that she is dangerous. I had no assessment of her value.¡±

    ¡°We need her alive she has intel vital to NATO interests, specifically US and Britain.¡±

    ¡°Is she stable ma¡¯am?¡±

    ¡°She is for now. I need to move, but I lack transport and I¡¯m starting to realize that the operation is more compromised than I realized, hence my vulgarity.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°I would have expected¡­an operative.¡±

    ¡°I am an operative.¡±

    She tapped her Navy Seal service pin. Eyre raised her eyebrow.

    ¡°Do you have transport?¡±

    ¡°I do, it is my brother in law¡¯s minivan. I hope no one is shooting at you.¡±

    ¡°We have neutralized their operations team in the area. I suspect we are past that point in this operation.¡±

    Carly nodded. Eyre paused for a few seconds looked Carly up and down.

    ¡°How did you know I was here? And how did you get here so fast there are no Naval bases in Arizona.¡±

    ¡°My boss got a call, from his boss, who got a call from some British woman who had a blank check from a president. I was here for my sister¡¯s wedding, at least I was sober by the time they called. Mostly.¡±

    Eyre sensed the truth and silently thanked Helen.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you got dragged into this on your vacation.¡±

    ¡°Active military for you. They say jump and I say how high.¡±

    ¡°I just need a ride to a safe house.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    Eyre walked to the recovery room and found the nursing station.

    ¡°Hi, I need her prepped ASAP.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be moving her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m well aware of that. I have medical support staff at a more secure location.¡±

    The nurse looked like she wanted to say more. But after a glance at the commander behind Eyre she frowned and said:

    ¡°She¡¯ll be ready in ten minutes.¡±

    Carly looked up at Eyre.

    ¡°She¡¯s stable for transport, right?¡±

    ¡°No, not really but this is not a secure enough location.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not okay with this Major.¡±

    ¡°Neither am I, but my choices are limited.¡±

    ¡°There is something you aren¡¯t telling me. I get that she¡¯s important, but something doesn¡¯t feel right.¡±

    Eyre frowned. Just her luck a Seer randomly appearing in her way. She motioned for her to follow her.

    ¡°There are definitely things you are not aware of. But the three things I can tell you are: This girl is the most dangerous human being you will likely encounter in your lifetime, she is a high value asset, and if I can get her out of here and to our safe house, she will be fine by the afternoon.¡±

    Carly blinked.

    ¡°You¡¯re not lying.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not and you have a gift, I see why you¡¯re doing the job you do.¡±

    ¡°Not sure what that means but I¡¯ll take it I guess.¡±

    ¡°Look, I will read you in on the real story while we are in transit, I just cannot do it here, to many ears.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    The nurse approached the pair.

    ¡°She is ready for transport, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre approached the bed and picked up Sarah and started carrying her outside. Carly rushed off ahead and by the time Eyre got outside there was a mini-van waiting. She sat Sarah in one of the rear seats and put her seat belt on. She got into the passenger seat.

    ¡°She is the most dangerous human I will ever meet. That lanky kid?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°Yes. You know I¡¯m telling the truth because you have the same gift I do.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Since you can remember you can tell if someone is lying to you, you might even be able to predict someone¡¯s next move. And that feeling people get that things just aren¡¯t right. For you it actually means something is not right. Tell me I¡¯m wrong.¡±

    Carly looked ahead. Eyre could tell she¡¯d struck a chord.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Because we are similar in that way.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making no sense; We just have a well-developed understanding of body language.¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°You know I said the same thing to my mother.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we both are adept at body language reading, what does that have to do with the kid?¡±

    ¡°That kid has psionic powers.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She can move stuff with her mind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s like sci fi stuff. It doesn¡¯t exist.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s what we want you to believe.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ no stuff like that doesn¡¯t exist.¡±

    ¡°Am I lying?¡±

    ¡°You believe what you¡¯re saying, but it doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re not nuts.¡±

    ¡°This girl has already killed one person and put another in the hospital simply by wanting them too not be there anymore. And the thing I was using to limit her powers had to be removed because that¡¯s how we were being tracked by the people who wanted to use her for their terrorist activities.¡±

    ¡°No, this can¡¯t be true.¡±

    Eyre pulled her phone out her pack and showed Carly.

    ¡°This is the address we are heading too.¡±

    Carly nodded and started heading in that direction.

    ¡°So, if she¡¯s a psychic what are you?¡±

    ¡°If I tell you, you definitely will not believe me.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t be any weirder then having Carrie in the back seat of my brother-in-law¡¯s mini-van.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a twelve-hundred-year-old vampire.¡±

    She laughed then glanced at Eyre.

    ¡°You really believe that. I hate to break it to you but you¡¯re in the sun right now.¡±

    ¡°Not everything you see in movies is true.¡±

    ¡°Okay, fine, sure, what does a vampire care about teenage girl?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Headmistress of a school for people like her.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a school? Like that wouldn¡¯t be all over the internet.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it is back home. But here, here your governments have decided to keep their existence hidden.¡±

    ¡°Where is back home?¡±

    ¡°You understand everything I¡¯m disclosing to you is secret and that if you disclose it, you can suffer punishments up to and including death for treason.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re funny.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m serious. If you talk about this, I can name eight different governments that will make it their mission to make sure you¡¯re declared legally insane or die in an accident.¡±

    ¡°You really are paranoid.¡±

    Eyre laughed.

    ¡°Only because people are out to get me, and my future student.¡±

    Carly pulled the minivan into the driveway and Eyre pressed a button on her phone and the garage door opened. She took Sarah from the back seat and carried her inside. She pressed a button on the wall and black out blinds went down over the windows. Carly followed her inside.

    ¡°So, what now?¡±

    ¡°I heal her so she can get to her party this afternoon, then I fill up on blood. As for you, you have a choice, I can erase our memories and send you on your way, or you can see how deep this rabbit hole goes?¡±

    ¡°You expect me to believe you can erase my memory.¡±

    Eyre looked into her eyes.

    ¡°You will forget you met me until I say the words sunflower.¡±

    Carly wobbled on her feet. Eyre broke contact. Carly looked around in a slight panic.

    ¡°Where am I? Who are you? What did you do to that girl?¡±

    ¡°Sunflower.¡±

    Carly blinked and held her head.

    ¡°Holy shit. I couldn¡¯t look away.¡±

    ¡°I told you. Help me clear off the table.¡±

    Carly glanced at Eyre suspiciously now but helped her clear off the dining room table. Eyre put Sarah down and pulled off the bandages. She glanced up at Carly.

    ¡°The mental control thing can be done with hypnotism. What I am about to do, it can¡¯t. You can go on your way now memories intact and believe I¡¯m just a really good hypnotist, or you can see what happens next. If you think I¡¯m testing, you I am. Your gift is valuable to us. If I like what I see you could have a place with us.¡±

    Carly shook her head.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a weird British lady, what are you going to show me I haven¡¯t seen before at some magic show?¡±

    Eyre nodded. She reached her hand up and undid the seam of her armor and pulled it apart reveling her shoulder.

    ¡°Slow down lady, not into women.¡±

    Eyre laughed.

    ¡°Neither am I, I just wanted to show you this.¡±

    Eyre touched Sarah¡¯s arm and began chanting and Carly blinked as the wound closed on Sarah and formed in Eyre¡¯s shoulder. Eyre winced held the wound open. Carly had jumped back at first but then she touched the freshly healed skin of Sarah¡¯s shoulder she reached for Eyre¡¯s shoulder. Eyre nodded and she touched Eyre grimaced and couldn¡¯t hold in the sound she made when her gaping wound was poked. She finally let it heal then pulled her armor back up and sealed it.

    ¡°That is not how the world works.¡±

    ¡°That is not how the world you know works. Your logical brain is telling you this is all a trick but that gift of yours is telling you it¡¯s all true, you¡¯ve always sensed something just outside your ability to see it, but you could never prove it.¡±

    ¡°Why are you showing me all this? You could have just gotten dropped off here done your healing thing and drive away in that car in the garage? Why bother with me?¡±

    ¡°Like I said a gift like yours is valuable to an organization I work with. It gives you an edge even against super powered beings like Sarah here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I like where this is going.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to get you to betray your oath. I¡¯m just reading you into the Op. A contingent from your government is interested an observational visit to my world. The knowledge I¡¯m sharing with you puts you on the short list for that visit. I also invite you to visit my school. See what we do. We are always happy to do exchanges with foreign powers. It lets them see we are working in their best interests as well as our own. Your world is developing beings like Sarah now, as much as we are here to support you, it would be helpful if you could at least do some enforcement on your own we can take care of containment.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re basically trying to start grooming me for some weird position in some black ops federal agency. No thanks, I like working in the open.¡±

    ¡°I would not say grooming, what I would say is: opening your mind to new possibilities.¡±

    ¡°You said containment. Do you imprison people just because they have abilities beyond the normal?¡±

    ¡°Only if they refuse to learn to control them. Or if they use them to harm others.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a slippery slope and sketchy to me.¡±

    ¡°What happened when your world had 9/11 happen?¡±

    ¡°What you mean my world?¡±

    ¡°That is not important at the moment, what happened?¡±

    ¡°The shit hit the fan; We went full out war with terrorism. We started putting people in places we could torture them.¡±

    ¡°That was what, two thousand civilians?¡±

    ¡°About that.¡±

    ¡°What would have happened if it had been fifty-five million?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°On my Earth in 1942 three supers got into a fight. The end result was fifty-five million dead. You can guess how the world reacted.¡±

    Eyre paused.

    ¡°So, considering what happened after 9/11, What would happen here, if Sarah here hadn¡¯t been contained so quickly and instead of two people, she wiped out Phoenix? Two million people dead. What would happen to people with superpowers?¡±

    ¡°This kid? No way.¡±

    ¡°This ¡®kid¡¯ has the damage potential of a nuclear weapon. All it takes for her to get angry enough. And if she is anything like the last three women born in her family, she¡¯ll be one of our most powerful Sorceresses. Her grandmother is one of our most formidable battle mages. If you want a scale on that, given a couple of hours she could wipe out New York City without the added benefit of being able to generate a telekinetic barrier to protect herself.¡±

    ¡°This can¡¯t be true; I mean you would never let people like that wonder around free.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question.¡±

    ¡°They would be put down. People would feel guilty afterwards, but no way they survive the retaliation, even if they were innocent.¡±

    ¡°That was the sentiment on my world, until I stopped it in its tracks. Helped build an organization that can stop beings like this and train them if they are willing and integrate them back into society. Now they are just like anyone, they have a few more restrictions and demands on their time, but they are free to pursue lives, have children. Be a baker if they want.¡±

    ¡°How did you manage that?¡±

    ¡°It was 1942, there was no internet the news was a lot easier to lock down. And honestly the people who were developing powers were people¡¯s mothers¡¯ brothers and sisters. Mostly though, I could stop them if they were going bad, the humans of the time were just incapable of any form of containment, capture or putting them down as you say.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how insane this all sounds to me?¡±

    ¡°I am not the right person to ask that question of, I was born in the fourteenth century, the concept of a camera is insane to me. So, my scale for that sort of thing is questionable at best.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you were twelve hundred years old.¡±

    ¡°That is a long story, let¡¯s just say I got stuck somewhere for four hundred years while on my earth like two weeks passed. That was fun experience. I suppose it is better me then a human who would have been dead for three hundred years before they got pulled back.¡±

    ¡°How.. You know what that sounds like it would give me a headache.¡±

    ¡°Would you like to continue down this path? Or should I send you on your way?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? They say curiosity killed the cat.¡±

    Carly made a sarcastic meow. Eyre smiled and continued.

    ¡°Excellent. Let me get filled up, then we can proceed.¡±

    Eyre went to the fridge and started pulling out bags of blood and draining them. Carly looked disquieted.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - Vampires? Saviors or Supremacists?

    Eyre sat in the driver¡¯s seat of what appeared to be a black luxury car. In reality it was a heavily armored tank in disguise an export from home using ultralight armored materials built to withstand magical and super powered attacks. Sarah had woken up briefly but fallen back asleep. Eyre debated if the teenager would even remember meeting Carly. Eyre tapped her fingers steering wheel waiting for the Naval Intelligence officer to return from getting changed and dropping off the minivan. When Carly came out of the house, she had a duffel bag and was wearing a ballcap, a grey pleated casual skirt and a t-shirt for the Navy Baseball team. She had a pair of runners on, and her brown hair was tied in a ponytail and threaded through the back of her hat, and she was wearing a pair of stylish sunglasses. She looked good. Eyre pressed the button on her console and the trunk opened, Carly threw her duffel bag in after pausing for a couple of moments then closed the trunk. She got in the passenger side of the car. And pointed her thumb to the back of the car.

    ¡°A rocket launcher?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes subtlety matters less than making sure whatever you¡¯re after stays down.¡±

    ¡°Does the US government even know the kind of hardware you are packing? This car looks normal, but it could give James Bond¡¯s ride a run for its money.¡±

    ¡°I not sure who James Bond is, but if he has a car like this, his organization is well-funded.¡±

    Carly looked at Eyre again.

    ¡°You really have no idea who I¡¯m talking about?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t which is funny because if any Earth-2 based government had this kind of tech we¡¯d know about it.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s from a book, some movies?¡±

    ¡°Oh fictional.¡±

    ¡°Yea, written by some guy who worked intelligence in WW2?¡±

    ¡°Our WW2 proceeded a lot differently than yours, Hitler and most of high-ranking Nazi¡¯s were killed in 1942 when 97% of the German population was wiped out in less than three seconds. Pretty much Europe was out of the war at that point and only US and Japan were fighting in the Pacific, along with any European powers that had been attacked by Japan in the east.¡±

    ¡°If only, you don¡¯t know what the Nazi¡¯s did¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯d say fifty-five million dead beats whatever they managed here.¡±

    ¡°Wait is Israel even a country there?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Though a good portion of European Jewish people were killed in the event. Because the Nazi¡¯s had been transporting them from all their conquered territories.¡±

    ¡°Shit. What happened to the Germans?¡±

    ¡°They settled in France, Poland, Russia, Norway, Finland. There is no Germany anymore. Just the German Exclusion zone and Earth Gov held territories around it. Our HQ is in Munich.¡±

    ¡°If you live there, do you hold citizenship in a country?¡±

    ¡°Technically based on the treaties, even though I was born before Great Britain was a cohesive entity, I hold a British Passport. I also have an Earth Gov passport. It¡¯s kind of like the Vatican. It is an independent country.¡±

    ¡°I never even thought of that. How do you figure out what country a vampire who has been alive longer than most countries have existed is their homeland?¡±

    ¡°The Munich Treaty Amendments of 1952 ruled on that based on the majority of signatories. Whatever country is in control of the land you were born on is your country of origin and therefore the country you are a citizen of. More interestingly though, we can¡¯t be bound by laws that were not in force at the time of our birth, like an Iranian vampire who was born before Islam was a thing can¡¯t be bound by Islamic law because their religion predates Islam. Same with Christianity. I think mostly that was done because if you try to tell a six-thousand-year-old vampire that their religion is false when yours came about two thousand years ago goes about as well as you¡¯d expect. We vampires got a lot of passes in those days because frankly without us the world would have descended into Chaos. And with a vampire that old you¡¯d need a full mobilization of your military and probably nuclear weapons to arrest them.¡±

    ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t there laws against supers resisting arrest?¡±

    ¡°There are, but they do not apply to vampires. We weren¡¯t born with superpowers we were given them. We are bound by our own laws. That the Imperial council and current sovereign enforce and maintain.¡±

    ¡°Wait there is a vampire Emperor?¡±

    ¡°No, Empress.¡±

    ¡°She must be a scary vampire.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, am I?¡±

    ¡°Wait you¡¯re the Empress?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my mother was Empress before me, and my grandfather Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Then where is your escort?¡±

    She laughed.

    ¡°Empress is like a tie breaker for the Imperial Council. I give guidance, if I think they¡¯re being idiots then I nix their ideas. I don¡¯t sit on a throne and rule from on high. I just act as the highest authority someone can appeal too. Most of the enforcement is done by Seers. People who have the same gift as you do who have been turned. If a vampire is misbehaving, they go sort them out. Which usually means death by beheading if it¡¯s a younger vampire.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty harsh.¡±

    ¡°It keeps the youth in line. And since we¡¯re vampires we¡¯re already dead. Which it turns out is a legal grey area. We pay taxes but our date of death is considered the date we were turned. Basically, we pay taxes to where we were born but if a vampire is killed the governments let us deal with it ourselves unless it was a human or super that did it. Then we must defer to them for justice.

    ¡°Your world seems complicated.¡±

    Eyre¡¯s phone buzzed so she pulled over and looked at it. Delivery driver understands food needs to be warm. Provided store address. Called local government to complain advised food has been spoiled. Inspectors were bribed. Called in retired inspectors to visit store and close it down. Store is in New Mexico, Near Goldwater. I¡¯m going to visit with our local inspectors. Eyre responded, Excellent let me know when restaurant is shut down. Thank you for back up. Food is safe and warm. Let the cooks go home. Take order tracking offline before you leave, lock it down.

    Eyre put the phone in her belt pouch.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Good news. The kid can probably have her party. Bad news I won¡¯t have a lot of security. But at least I can put a limiter on her.¡±

    ¡°What is next?¡±

    ¡°We drop her off at home, then we head to the hospital, have one more person to heal.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°The girl Sarah hurt. I need to heal her.¡±

    ¡°How bad is it?¡±

    ¡°Bad enough her father tried to empty a Glock into Sarah. Though I don¡¯t think it was entirely his own idea. One of the supers we took out was a Mind manipulator. Are you up to help?¡±

    ¡°Depends, what did the girl do to deserve it?¡±

    ¡°How do you know she did anything?¡±

    ¡°Because you said kids her age usually end up activating their powers instinctually when angry or scared.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s been bullying Sarah since she arrived in town. From what I understand Sarah became her new target when Sarah befriended a transgender girl named Samantha, Samantha committed suicide. I think the incident that precipitated Sarah¡¯s attack was a deep fake video she posted of Sarah with an Adams apple in a suit and her boyfriend in a dress. Sarah¡¯s mother has been dosing her with puberty blockers to try and prevent her from developing powers.¡±

    She glanced back at Sarah¡¯s sleeping form.

    ¡°So that is why she looks like she is a really tall twelve-year-old.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°She was also dosing her with a cocktail of drugs to keep her emotions dulled, but it was having the opposite effect Sarah has been suffering from panic attacks. Which may be partially my fault I removed the memories of her killing a man who tried to abduct her. She still has the emotional trauma of the event; I can¡¯t remove that.¡±

    ¡°Abduct her? You mean these people have tried before?¡±

    ¡°No, this was your standard run of the mill convicted child molester.¡±

    ¡°How old was she?¡±

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    ¡°You said they had to hit puberty first.¡±

    ¡°Sarah is special, there was a trauma when she was six. She protected herself and her family with some sort of energy shield. Never happened before. It is always puberty before their powers activate, always. And they are never able to access their full power until, a year or two afterwards. Its why we don¡¯t start them at the Academy until they are fourteen. Grade 9 if you will. Usually by then their power is developed to a point we can train them to use and control them. Her, at six she was already exponentially more powerful than even one of our most powerful teenagers. Basically, I have no idea what is going on and until I get her home, Earth-Prime, that is, I will not know the extent of her abilities.¡±

    ¡°What happened when she was six?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember the accident in Scotland, hundred and forty people killed by a petrol tanker and natural gas tanker?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think that was all over the news eight years ago I think.¡±

    ¡°Sarah and her family were between the trucks.¡±

    Carly¡¯s eyes went wide, and she looked back at Sarah.

    ¡°Does she remember?¡±

    ¡°No, she rarely remembers using her abilities she seems to block it out, or maybe it was the drugs her mother had her on. I am no doctor or psychologist.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°We have satellites in orbit. We can detect power events. I honestly couldn¡¯t explain the science behind it, all I know is the satellites pick up the events, the computer does a calculation tells us the strength of the event and the location. Unfortunately, it¡¯s not real time and we can¡¯t monitor everywhere at once. We lucked out and caught it. We were able to correlate a reading with a cover up we were asked to help with. An untouched family and car at the center of an explosion that leveled trees for half a kilometer the pavement was pristine so was the car. Fire burned for seven hours around it.¡±

    ¡°So how do you rate them?¡±

    ¡°We have an exponential scale. I can¡¯t really translate it for you without you actually seeing what I¡¯m talking about. I¡¯m a PL17-15m. Which means nothing to you. Our scale goes to PL21.¡±

    ¡°What is she?¡±

    ¡°I do not know. First event was PL9, Second event PL10, this one, PL14.¡±

    ¡°So, she is growing in power exponentially with age?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And honestly, I have no idea if she can use magic. Like I said earlier, women from her family have been top of our scale of magical ability, PL15M and in most cases they weren¡¯t classified higher because no one believes its possible.¡±

    ¡°Have you told her any of this?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want her developing an ego about it, and I also don¡¯t want to scare her.¡±

    She glanced back at Sarah.

    ¡°She has enough to sort out right now, her parents drugging her, forcing her to stay a child physically, finding out her father isn¡¯t who he said he was.¡±

    ¡°Are here parent¡¯s going to be punished?¡±

    ¡°No, she agreed to surrender herself to my custody on the basis I would give her parents immunity to prosecution for their previous crimes, a date with her boyfriend, and the party we¡¯re taking her too this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°You seem to have a lot of power for a school headmistress, I mean you said you¡¯re empress but you said that doesn¡¯t mean much to your governments. I¡¯m just confused why someone like that is here doing what seems to be a simple retrieval job.¡±

    ¡°I used to be President of Earth Gov, before that I was the person who built MANA which is a really stupid name, but I didn¡¯t come up with it. I was director of that agency. I am also technically still an active Agent. Usually, I would not be involved in a retrieval, but I taught her father, and I had come here as a favor to help him cover up the man who was killed. He agreed they would talk to her, and I would pick her a month afterwards, but they fled to here, and I couldn¡¯t track them. I felt responsible for the mess because I gave her father the benefit of the doubt, so I volunteered and here we are. Mostly I was asked to try and convince your president to sign the damn treaty. I don¡¯t know why the US has been so stubborn. I mean the minute something bad happens¡­ they would be begging for help.¡±

    ¡°We like to believe we have ideals. Of course, when the shit hits the fan, we rarely live up to them as a country, the sane voices get drowned out by the burn them sentiment.¡±

    ¡°That is just human nature. Humans can be great; They just need someone to give them a sanity check before they go off the rails. Which is the difference between our worlds. The sanity check for humanity has been vampires for us. Which is funny because one of the laws my grandfather brought into force for us vampires shall not interfere with the course of human history. I pretty much threw that out the moment I gained the power of the Empress. Humans would have turned our world to a magically irradiated wasteland.¡±

    ¡°You used to be human, what makes you better?¡±

    Eyre could hear the annoyance in Carly¡¯s voice.

    ¡°That is a good point. Vampires have two especially important qualities human don¡¯t. We have the benefit of an immortal outlook, and we are not driven by hormones.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±

    ¡°Humans live for a hundred years, to vampires a hundred-year-old vampire is barely an adult. We look two-three hundred years in the future, what will our current policies mean then? Takes us about a century to realize we aren¡¯t going anywhere anytime soon. And the later means we don¡¯t make decisions based on whether I had my period that day, or my daughter pissed me off, or I need to prove I have a big dick. I have nothing prove, no vampire does. We have our own dick swinging contests, but they are social, they aren¡¯t about how much power we have amassed, we¡¯re all powerful, or how much money we have. Money comes naturally. Bribing a vampire is like trying to bribe a stone. The being your trying to bribe has more money than you ever will be able to offer them.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t agree. Humans aren¡¯t savage barbarians because we live less than a hundred years.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°True, individually humans are fine, it¡¯s when mob rule starts to overtake them.¡±

    ¡°So basically, you lot decided to take control of humanity. I thought you said humans should be self-ruled.¡±

    ¡°They should be, but someone has to stop humanity at that point where they¡¯re about to destroy themselves.¡±

    ¡°So, you give the humans the illusion of freedom?¡±

    Eyre sighed.

    ¡°Would you rather we just stand by and watch humanity bomb themselves back into the stone age? Wipe themselves out? We have always been guardians of humanity and the Earth.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re just like every other superior feeling human. You know better.¡±

    ¡°The difference is we do know better. You know how many civilizations we vampires as a collective have watched rise and fall repeatedly, the same mistakes. Every time you have raised higher and higher, and then crashed twice as hard. At some point you aren¡¯t growing, you¡¯re just torturing yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you teach your students, that vampires are wise and just and that they should listen to you?¡±

    ¡°No, I teach our students to think before they act, to use their minds and their hands before their powers. To think for themselves.¡±

    ¡°I sense not all of your people agree with this ideal you have set forth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are dissenters, individuals and organizations that think supers should be free to do what they want, that humanity is inferior and should serve them. That is what the vampires are the wall between, humanity existing, and chaos as supers and humanity fight each other to the death. Where no one wins. Or supers fight supers, and fifty-five million people die.¡±

    ¡°You pretend you are doing good, but you¡¯re doing good for your kind. I bet the kids you teach don¡¯t even know they¡¯re being brainwashed.¡±

    ¡°You really believe that? That the Academy is brainwashing students?¡±

    ¡°School has always been a way for governments and corporations to control children you just do it in a more¡­ overt manner.¡±

    ¡°I invite you to come teach at the school, I¡¯m sure you have some sort of degree if you¡¯re an officer.¡±

    ¡°I have a master¡¯s in physics.¡±

    ¡°Then come to the Academy teach science, teach military theory, intelligence.¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡±

    ¡°Just like that. The more voices I have telling your government we are what we say we are the better. I can tell you that over and over again, but you won¡¯t know it until you see it. See how our students are treated, see how we teach them.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any superpowers.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need any, we have plenty of non-powered instructors.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even really know me.¡±

    ¡°Of course, we need to confirm your degree and your credentials.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re up to something I can feel it.¡±

    ¡°I am always up to something. I¡¯m a vampire. I told you we think far into the future.¡±

    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s why you¡¯re here, it¡¯s not because you felt bad, it¡¯s because this girl, you can¡¯t figure her out. You¡¯re scared of her. I bet you would have normally just tossed her through your gate or whatever and told her join us or be imprisoned. But her, no her you let her parents off, gave her what she asked for so long as she came with you willingly because you weren¡¯t sure you could make her come with you otherwise.¡±

    Eyre glanced at Carly. Her insights were annoyingly close to reality.

    ¡°I¡¯m right. Jesus.¡±

    ¡°I would ask you say nothing of this to her.¡±

    ¡°I am not going to say a word. Risk poking the living nuclear weapon, no thanks.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s also a fourteen-year-old girl. As much as she is dangerous, she is also a human teenager.¡±

    ¡°You actually care about her.¡±

    ¡°I care about all my students. Their safety and growth are my responsibility.¡±

    ¡°Just when I think I have you figured out. Fine I¡¯ll take your bait. I¡¯ll teach at your school. So long as you ensure when I come back here, I get to keep my rank and pension.¡±

    ¡°Done.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure you can do that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find this out sooner or later at this point. The President¡¯s daughter is starting at the school in the fall.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re good at making things vanish, people, evidence.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t she want her daughter here?¡±

    ¡°A president who got elected on the wave of her sympathy for her daughter¡¯s death, suddenly has her show up alive?¡±

    ¡°That is fucking cold.¡±

    ¡°Her daughter has powers, not in the sense we¡¯re used to, but she qualifies. Also, she¡¯s been useful in developing 29<sup>th</sup> century tech. Which as part of this agreement we are sharing with the United States of Earth-2¡±

    Eyre pulled into a driveway.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    She got out and pulled a power limiter from her pack and put it around Sarah¡¯s ankle then shook her gently. Sarah stirred after a good five minutes of poking.

    ¡°What¡­ where are we ma¡¯am?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re home. You have about three hours until we¡¯ll pick you up for your party.¡±

    She rubbed her eyes and saw her blood-stained t-shirt. She jumped back like she could get away from it.

    ¡°What happed ma¡¯am?¡±

    ¡°You were shot, I healed you. Don¡¯t worry about it I¡¯ll tell you about it later, important thing is you¡¯re fine and the party is still on, so go get ready. You¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Okay ma¡¯am.¡±

    Sarah shifted and stood up.

    ¡°Your brothers and parents are safe; They should be back soon. And don¡¯t forget your booster pill, since it¡¯s too late to take the other.¡±

    Sarah nodded and shuffled to her door and put in the code and unlocked it and walked inside. Carly looked at Eyre.

    ¡°Are you sure she¡¯ll be, okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure. I wasn¡¯t lying her parents are fine and they¡¯ll probably be here in twenty or thirty minutes not that I think she¡¯s talking to them at the moment.¡±

    Eyre shut her door and backed out of the driveway. It was quiet ride the hospital. Eyre parked the car and glanced at Carly who looked back at her. Carly motioned to the hospital.

    ¡°So, what is the play here? You don¡¯t exactly look like well anything from this world in that armor.¡±

    In response Eyre pulled out her service phone and took a picture of a doctor in a white coat walking between buildings. She tapped the phone a few times more and her armor shimmered away leaving her in a white doctors coat. Carly did a double take because she hadn¡¯t been paying attention.

    ¡°Holy shit. How?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re called Holo-webs let me just program one for you.¡±

    She pulled out a necklace with a weird looking gem on it. She put it next to her phone and tapped a few times. And offered it to Carly.

    ¡°Put it on. We¡¯ll have to give it a few minutes to adapt to your dimensions and cloths.¡±

    Carly slipped it over her neck and tapped it like she had seem Eyre tap the one built into her armor. The imaged kept flickering and shifting every time she moved.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be working.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because it is calculating your dimensions and adapting to your clothes and your body language. We just have to wait for it to settle down.¡±

    ¡°How the hell does this work?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d need to ask a holo-engineer about that. I just use them. They are very expensive, do not lose it.¡±

    ¡°How expensive?¡±

    ¡°First F-35.¡±

    Carly coughed a few times.

    ¡°Why is it so expensive?¡±

    ¡°Because its 29<sup>th</sup> century tech that has been duplicated and creating quantum processors is expensive. At least at this point. Same reason my armor which is based on Atlantean armor unlike my sister¡¯s which is Atlantean armor, is worth two or three F-35¡¯s¡±

    ¡°What makes your armor so good?¡±

    ¡°We have time while we wait, and it will help it adapt faster¡­so just punch me in the arm as hard as you can. Don¡¯t worry even without the armor it won¡¯t hurt but it will do for an example.¡±

    Carly wound up and punched she started shaking it.

    ¡°That was like punching a steel wall.¡±

    ¡°Now touch it.¡±

    Eyre held out her arm Carly ran her fingers along the fabric.

    ¡°It feels so soft, that must be like wearing a silk body suit.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    ¡°How does that armor work?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know, the harder you hit it, the harder it becomes at the point of impact. Lifts off the skin absorbs the shock over its whole surface. Its technical name is NFIA-5. Which stands for Nanofiber Intelligent Armor, Mark 5. It has a quantum processor in and a micro fusion core that powers it.¡±

    ¡°What the hell are your fighters like?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re fast, they shoot missiles. They are built of the same materials as this car?¡±

    Carly laughed. Eyre shrugged.

    ¡°Not something I need to know or am interested in. I¡¯m sure sister could tell you more. She¡¯s obsessed with military technology. She was never allowed to join the Air Force. British Government considered her too valuable to risk in a fighter. But my mom filled her head with nonsense about flying F-22¡¯s off of an aircraft carrier.¡±

    ¡°You said your mother died in 1942 how was she flying F-22¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°My mother was capable of time travel. In an alternate version of our world¡¯s timeline, she gained access to magic to make herself human during the day in the 1980¡¯s. She attended school in Japan, was a doctor, became a pediatric surgeon. When that ID got too old, she dropped it and attended university in the US and became a Naval Aviator. Fought in a few wars¡­ retired became a police detective and eventually used her real face to reconnect with her sister. Based on her journals on the Atlantean tablet my sister had I was an 80¡¯s pop singer.¡±

    ¡°You? Big hair? Your mother seems like she was quite a woman.¡±

    ¡°There were photos and copies of my albums. It was nice to read the journals even if it was weird to hear about another version of myself. You always think your parents are a certain way, then you find out the real them and realize they had perfectly good reasons for doing what they did. My mother¡¯s number one focus was getting back to the time she came from so she could talk to me again. I thought of her this heartless distant figure. She was so old by the time she had me¡­I guess she was my age, that she didn¡¯t think like a human. So, it was like being parented by a statue that smiled when it

    should, hugged you how it should, but there was this distance. She was keeping us twins at a distance because she knew she would have to leave because she was being hunted by something dangerous. She was also afraid she might hurt us. Her father was abusive. My mother didn¡¯t really understand love. It was strange seeing events from her perspective. She cared very deeply about her family and her friends, but she didn¡¯t know how to express it and she thought that if she did, she would end up like her father and hurt us. So, she just didn¡¯t. But with her later children the ones after me, she was more affectionate. She seems to credit me with teaching her how to love someone without hurting them. I have a sense the mother I saw in 1942 was more humans than most humans. Maybe if I had her by my side, I wouldn¡¯t be like how I am.¡±

    ¡°My parents and I have issues too. They were born in the sixties and are totally anti-war. And here is their daughter who drank the Kool-Aid is a lifer. Let¡¯s just say the wedding was difficult.¡±

    ¡°Well now you can tell them you¡¯re teaching high school. Not exactly where.¡±

    ¡°Okay how does this work? Do I get vacation?¡±

    ¡°You do, unfortunately you need a two-week quarantine before you transit. You¡¯ll get T-Cell enhancement but that won¡¯t do the people around you here any good.¡±

    ¡°So, I don¡¯t carry something that there is no immunity to here.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But that being said, you do get each school break off and summer, and Christmas holidays. And weekends typically if you would like, Munich has a good night life. A lot of the staff chooses not to and just stay on campus and use the facilities. Some just live in a dorm and are a dorm head as well as teachers.¡±

    ¡°What about students?¡±

    ¡°If they are over the age of sixteen, they can make unaccompanied day trips to Munich, but they need to be back before 10 pm local time. Only on weekends. Certain exceptions are made but depends on the student and the circumstances.¡±

    ¡°How big is this campus?¡±

    ¡°A hundred hectares or so. We have a small hospital, three libraries, an athletic complex, full internet access, an Arcade, a hair salon, a general good store, mall style food court, Olympic sized pool. And of course, there is online shopping, mail and courier services are able to deliver packages.¡±

    ¡°Why would they not be able to deliver packages?¡±

    ¡°Because our campus is on Earth-3.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another earth?¡±

    Eyre smiled.

    ¡°We have identified over six thousand parallel earths. I told you this was a very deep rabbit hole. You want to see an Earth were the Nazi¡¯s won? I could show you one, its ugly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve done a rotation. Vampires first in, last out, our immunity to disease, not having to breath, immunity to toxins. It makes us perfect for it. Which is how I ended up four hundred years older than I should be.¡±

    ¡°What a job.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not so bad now, we send drones through first now. But in the beginning, we had vampires.¡±

    Carly nodded Eyre noticed the flickering of the holo-web had stopped.

    ¡°It¡¯s adapted. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Eyre had already gotten the intel she needed to find Candace. The trip through the hospital was uneventful. Eyre was a master of walking and looking like she belonged. Carly was a bit more hesitant about being here she was an operative but seemed unaccustomed to being in plain sight when she infiltrated somewhere. Eyre walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor and glanced at Carly.

    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to be here. We are doctors.¡±

    Carly nodded and seemed to try and relax. Eyre exited the elevator and walked past several doctors and nurses without giving them a second glance one of the nurses stopped her.

    ¡°Excuse me, who are you?¡±

    Eyre looked her in the eye.

    ¡°I¡¯m Dr. Keen. I¡¯m a world-renowned British Neurosurgeon who was flown in to consult on the case of Candace Houston. You were expecting me. This is a surgical resident; You know her well her name is Dr. Matthews.¡±

    Eyre broke eye contact and the nurse blinked a few times.

    ¡°Dr. Keen I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know what to expect. With your reputation I expected someone older. Candace is this way. It¡¯s kind of a stressful situation at the moment her father is under arrest for murdering the girl who was accused of doing this. The mother is pretty¡­ difficult?¡±

    Eyre patted her on the arm.

    ¡°Karen, could you please go tell her to expect a doctor and a resident? Tell her we¡¯re here to determine if surgery is a viable option for her daughter. I¡¯m just going to go get up to date medical charts.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Dr. Keen.¡±

    The nurse wandered off. Carly looked up at Eyre.

    ¡°That¡­ wow. Must be nice to have that trick.¡±

    ¡°For that you¡¯d need to be turned, don¡¯t think you¡¯d be good for military service after that, being clinically dead and all.¡±

    The nurse returned and nodded to Eyre.

    ¡°Thank you, Karen. You have a great day.¡±

    Eyre met her gaze again.

    ¡°In thirty minutes, you will forget we were here at all.¡±

    Karen was staring into her eyes and nodded. Eyre broke eye contact and walked into Candace¡¯s room. Her mother looked like a wreck. She was looking far older than her thirty-eight years. The last few days had not been good for her. She stood up and met the pair halfway through. Eyre closed the door. She glanced at Carly.

    ¡°Close the blinds please.¡±

    Candace¡¯s mother was already in Eyre¡¯s way.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember asking for a British Neurosurgeon. Who are you?¡±

    Eyre smiled.

    ¡°I was in town for a speech and your daughter¡¯s Neurologist asked me to review her case I have been able to help people with similar injuries before. If you would rather I leave, I will do so, I¡¯m here as a courtesy, volunteering my time and services.¡±

    The woman rubbed her eyes she looked like she¡¯d gone through hell.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I just don¡¯t even know how I¡¯m going to pay the hospital bills I have already, I have legal fees now and.¡±

    Eyre touched her arm.

    ¡°Mrs. Houston, I¡¯m here to help. As I said I am here to consult, and if I can help her and the hospital authorizes it, I will do my best to make your daughter walk again. I just need you to¡­¡±

    The sunlight was finally blocked, and Eyre met her gaze.

    ¡°Sleep.¡±

    She caught the woman and put her in the seat gently.

    ¡°No mother should go through this. If this kid hadn¡¯t been such a sadistic little bitch.¡±

    ¡°You just throw that power around don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I have it, I use it. You¡¯re going to have to catch me I¡¯m going to lose all ability to stand. It will take me a couple of minutes to recover.¡±

    Eyre touched Candace and chanted. As predicted, she collapsed immediately, and it took her a few minutes to recover. Carly had caught her and helped her up when she came out of the temporary black out. Eyre rubbed her neck.

    ¡°At least there was no pain.¡±

    She leaned over Candace and shook her awake. Candace started swatting at her then calmed down when she realized she was not in her room.

    ¡°Where am I? Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a doctor, you¡¯re in the hospital.¡±

    Candace¡¯s breathing slowed and she saw her mother asleep she stopped struggling entirely. Once Eyre could meet her gaze she pushed into her mind deeper then easy surface manipulation and started editing her memories of the attack.

    ¡°You were attacked by a man in your room. He was trying to abduct you. You fought back. You recognized his voice as a man you saw at a bus stop. He was six foot tall, had dark hair, blue eyes. He was a large man, you had been scared of him at the bus stop. He followed you all the way to school but you saw him walk away and thought he was just going past the school. You can¡¯t remember his face its blank. The attack has scared you so much because you thought it was someone you had bullied but it wasn¡¯t, it was man. You are scared of people now. You¡¯re afraid if you push them too far they will hurt you. You are also feeling very guilty because you bullied a girl named Samantha until she killed herself and you are afraid you might have done the same to Sarah. You are going to confess to the police that you cyber bullied them and that you are afraid you might have caused Samantha to kill herself. You will not harm yourself or others, but your fear makes you feel physically sick every time you have to urge to bully someone. You will forget you saw us. You woke up and your mom was asleep. You will press the call button in a panic because you had a dream about the man who attacked you. Sleep, and you will wake when the door closes.¡±

    She went to her mother and shook her awake. The groggy woman blinked up at her and Eyre met her gaze.

    ¡°You saw an angel come into the room and heal your daughter. The angel spoke to you and told you that they are giving her a second chance because she was going to fall into the pits because of her hate and bigotry. God is angry that she bullied one of his children into suicide. The angel says that for Candace to atone she needs to pay for her crimes. And if you keep covering up for her you will fall to the pits to because you are just as guilty as her. Also that the Church of Christ¡¯s truth is a vile disgusting pit of hate and are not his true children. You should seek a priest at Catholic church and beg for forgiveness. They can show you a better way, one without hate. You will forget you saw us and you will go back to sleep. You can wake once your daughter calls for you. Sleep.¡±

    Eyre broke eye contact and the woman collapsed into the chair again. Eyre motioned for them to leave. She closed the door and the pair walked down the hallway. A nurse rushed to the room. Carly glanced over at Eyre who tapped her holo-web crystal and shifted to jeans and a t-shirt. Carly did so to and she was back to her normal clothes.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do that, you basically reprogrammed them, that is not right.¡±

    ¡°And a teenager girl who was taught to hate anything her church says to hate such as transgender kids, homosexuals is right? If I had my way, I¡¯d burn that church to the ground and kill the pastor. But I don¡¯t so I will do my best to make sure that girl makes better choices, ones that don¡¯t end with people committing suicide.¡±

    ¡°You took away their right to choose.¡±

    ¡°I also gave her back her life. Anything she does past this point is on me, and I¡¯m not going to be responsible for more hate being brought into your Earth¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Catholic, aren¡¯t you? Don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t noticed the crucifix. Don¡¯t you hate those people too.¡±

    Eyre showed a bit of anger for the first time since the pair had met.

    ¡°Catholic¡¯s don¡¯t hate. That is against everything Jesus taught. Equating us to that poisonous venomous disgusting church.¡±

    She sighed.

    ¡°Sorry religion is always a touchy subject. But on my Earth we have humans that can literally be whatever sex they want it makes it a kind of moot point doesn¡¯t it? Or hell humans who can be whatever gender they want in whatever form they want. There is one student can turn into anything he wants that is a living creature. Can be a female dog one day, male teenage boy the next. Whatever he wants. Now if God allows that, then why is a human who has no powers who chooses to transition to a different gender any worse? There is magic that can do it, literally you pay a mage, and you are what you were born to be. This madness, puberty blockers, hate because someone wants to have their physical appearance match the identity they have. It¡¯s disgusting. Literally a ten-minute ritual and you¡¯re the other gender, if it doesn¡¯t work out you switch back. The only countries that even put gender on ID anymore are the Islamic ones.¡±

    ¡°You really feel strongly about this.¡±

    By this time the pair had reached the car.

    ¡°Hate is a poison. If that girl had pulled the shit at home, she¡¯s pulled here, after the first incident she would have been in a police interrogation room for a hate crime. Second time, she¡¯d be in juvie, if a kid killed themselves, she¡¯d be charged with murder. We don¡¯t let hate and bullying stand. It happens but when you have teenagers who can suddenly rip people to shreds with their minds, it can¡¯t be allowed to go on.¡±

    Carly nodded.

    ¡°Look, we obviously have different experiences with the world, here bullying just part of growing up.¡±

    ¡°And where I¡¯m from, we know it doesn¡¯t have to be.¡±

    The holo-tablet on Eyre¡¯s wrist vibrated. She opened and looked at it the limiter had detected an event and had been overloaded when it attempted to stop it. Eyre swore under her breath. Carly was staring at the hologram floating in front of Eyre.

    ¡°What is wrong?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sarah she just used her power. Limiter¡­isn¡¯t working on her. She¡¯s too strong.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She overloaded the limiter. Which is theoretically impossible.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means we need to get to her house ASAP.¡±

    Eyre got another text from Helen. WTF Food seems to be on fire. Eyre texted back. On it. Eyre started the car and peeled out.

 Earth 2 - 2026 - Goodbyes are the worst.

    Sarah stood in the shower and letting the warm water was over her.  She tried to remember what happened after the interrogation room.  She¡¯d seen Eyre move so fast everyone around them was standing still.  She remembered pain.  More pain.  Most of it was a blank.  She rubbed her eyes and then rinsed her hair.  There was dried blood in it.  Her skin had been clean.  She vaguely remembered a hospital before being put out.  She looked down at her ankle.  The monitor was secure around it. She rubbed her shoulder where the bullet had hit her. It felt normal. She silently wondered if the bullet was still there. She remembered Eyre leaning over and trying to get it out.  There was so much blood.  It hurt so much.  She closed her eyes. She remembered more gunshots. The night was a blur.  She stood in the shower for a long time.  She hadn¡¯t taken her small fast acting ADHD pill yet, so she lost all track of time.

    Her door opened. She jumped and nearly fell when her foot slipped on the wet tiles of her shower.  She heard her mother call out.

    ¡°Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Go away mom!  I dinnae want to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°You will talk to me!¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯m not going to talk to you!¡±

    Sarah heard mother yelp then a loud bang as the door slammed shut.  Sarah saw her eyes flash blue in her reflection on the glass when the door slammed.  She fell back against the tiled wall but managed to grab the soap dish to stop herself from falling on her behind.  She looked at herself again in the glass her eyes where their normal pale silver. She shook it off.  She was probably just seeing stuff.  She had been dosed with a lot of drugs that had an effect on her brain.  She washed her hair then used cream rinse and pulled out her blow dryer.

    *****

    Eyre pulled into the driveway of Sarah¡¯s house.  Carly got out of the car at the same time as Eyre.  Eyre motioned for her to stop.

    ¡°Okay this is a sensitive situation.  So, kid gloves with Sarah.  The limiter is fried so it is basically doing nothing.  She might not know that, so play it cool.  If she gets too angry or too scared, she is libel to lash out without meaning too.  If she hasn¡¯t taken her ADHD meds, she doesn¡¯t have a brake pedal for her feelings and external action so that includes her powers. So again, just smile and nod.¡±

    Carly nodded Eyre walked to the door and rang the doorbell.  Liam answered it.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good time.¡±

    Eyre pushed past Liam.

    ¡°I rang the doorbell to be polite Liam.  Where is Sarah?¡±

    ¡°In her bathroom showering.¡±

    Eyre glanced at Sarah¡¯s mother who had an ice pack on her arm and look like she had fallen down the stairs. Liam moved between Eyre and his wife.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s fine she fell down the stairs.¡±

    ¡°Stop lying Liam you have never been good at it; I know Sarah fried the limiter.¡±

    ¡°It was an accident.¡±

    ¡°Of course, it was an accident. She¡¯s fourteen.¡±

    Eyre pointed at Sarah¡¯s mother.

    ¡°I told you to give her space.¡±

    She looked back to Liam.

    ¡°I need you two to stop poking the living Nuclear Weapon.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my daughter ye British hag I should be able to talk to her and she should listen to me.¡±

    Eyre glance at Carly.

    ¡°Lt Cmdr. What are you authorized to do if they keep this up?¡±

    Carly glanced at Eyre then spoke.

    ¡°Anyone who interferes with this operation will be stripped of their human rights, and rights as a US citizen until such time as the threat has been removed.  I can throw you in a dark hole somewhere and forget about you and no one will care.¡±

    ¡°You heard the American.  It¡¯s out of my hands now.  I tried to warn you both.  This is it, last warning:  Stop poking the living nuclear weapon. You don¡¯t want to lose your sons and your freedom.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s mother was about to respond but everyone looked up towards the top floor when the heard Sarah yell out for help.  Eyre looked at Carly and motioned to Sarah¡¯s parents.

    ¡°Keep these two here.¡±

    Eyre rushed up the stairs and found Sarah¡¯s door jammed shut.  Something had bent hinges and pushed the door past the framing, and it was stuck fast.  Her room was in chaos like a tornado had gone through.  Eyre called out.

    ¡°Its Ms. Aurelius, stand back from the door.¡±

    Sarah sounded like she had been crying when she spoke.

    ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t mean to do it.¡±

    ¡°I know; Just stand back.¡±

    Eyre kicked the door what was left of the frame broke apart showing the bathroom with splintered wood. Sarah was shaking and sobbing.  Eyre rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her.

    ¡°Shh Sarah. Shh.¡±

    ¡°I just got mad and it happened.  I thought the limiter was supposed to¡­¡±

    ¡°It is, think of how much worse it could have been if you didn¡¯t have it?¡±

    ¡°Shh, everyone¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Did I hurt mom?¡±

    ¡°No, she seems to have fallen down the stairs though.  So many toys on them from your brothers it doesn¡¯t surprise me.¡±

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get you dressed and to your party.  I¡¯ll just need to check the limiter it seems to be offline.¡±

    Sarah nodded and Eyre switched it out for a new one. She put it aside in a separate container so she could pass it to the engineers and figure out what went wrong.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you get dressed, we¡¯re downstairs waiting to give you a ride to the party.  Then we¡¯ll go straight to quarantine.  Is this everything you¡¯re taking?¡±

    She pointed at two big pieces of luggage and a couple of bins.  Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll start getting it to the car.¡±

    Eyre picked up the luggage and walked down the stairs.  When she came around the bend at the bottom everyone looked at her with expectant looks.

    ¡°The door was jammed.  Morag you are incredibly lucky she had the limiter on.  I suggest you keep your mouth shut.  To avoid incidents if you are choosing to come to Earth-Prime you will have to wait two weeks for quarantine I don¡¯t want you all stuck in the same enclosed space for two weeks, I¡¯d like everyone to survive to see Earth Prime.¡±

    Eyre walked out to the car with the luggage and started loading it up.  She went back up and by the time she got there Sarah was dressed. They each grabbed one of the bins and took them to the car.  One had to go in the back seat with Sarah because the trunk ran out of space.  Sarah waved her Dad, glared at her mother and hugged her brothers.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon Dad.  Malcom and Blair.¡±

    She didn¡¯t acknowledge her mother further then the glare and her mother looked like she¡¯d just been slapped.  Eyre gathered up Sarah¡¯s meds in a plastic bag.  Carly followed the vampire to the car. Eyre went back inside.  Sarah and Carly were left in the car alone together.  Carly glanced back.  Sarah looked like such a normal kid.

    ¡°Kid, your mother didn¡¯t deserve that.¡±

    ¡°What would you know?¡±

    ¡°I know she seems to care about you a lot, enough to risk prison time to help you.  She just didn¡¯t know what she was dealing with.  You should give her a break.¡±

    Sarah crossed her arms and stared out the window.

    ¡°Look kid, my mother was the greatest.  I ended up having my sister raise me more than her, but she tried her best.  And I was at my sister¡¯s wedding this weekend and my mom wasn¡¯t there because she passed away.  My sister and I had a good cry about that.  Because we had an argument with her before she passed.  You never know when she¡¯ll be gone, best to have no regrets.  Forgive her and move on.  It will make you a happier person.¡±

    ¡°And what? She gets away with it?¡±

    ¡°Did you see her face when you didn¡¯t say goodbye to her?  She¡¯s already suffering. Why do you want to add to it?  Is it going to change what happened to you?¡±

    Sarah kept her arms crossed and stared out the window again.  Eyre got in the car she glanced back at Sarah then at Carly, and frowned.  Carly shrugged.

    ¡°You want me to be a teacher, I figured now would be as good a time as any time to start.  Not all lessons are about math and science.¡±

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Eyre gave a sigh and nodded.  She backed out of the driveway and drove to the pizzeria that the party was at.  She parked in the lot and got out.  Carly joined them.

    ¡°Sarah, I know this was supposed to be just you kids, but with all the stuff that has happened, Ms. Sheppard and I will be there, but we¡¯ll be out of the way. Okay?¡±

    ¡°I understand ma¡¯am.  It might be better that way, kids will be less rowdy.¡±

    Carly smirked.

    ¡°I thought that was half the fun.¡±

    Sarah smiled and pushed her hair behind her ears.  She wasn¡¯t really paying attention to Carly she was looking at Richard. She looked at Eyre who gave her nod.  Richard had his hands in his pockets, and he was with the gym rats he usually hung with.  The restaurant was open already they were just chatting outside.  Sarah got out of the car and Richard noticed and walked towards her.  They hugged and kissed.  Which led to a few comments from their gym buddies. The four went into the restaurant Eyre watched after them.  Carly put her hand on the handle after watching them go inside.

    ¡°This place hasn¡¯t changed in twenty years; I remember we used to come here after games all the time. Had my first kiss in that very spot.¡±

    Eyre¡¯s burner vibrated again.  She glanced down at it and smiled then put it away.

    ¡°I know you probably can¡¯t tell me but who have you been texting on that thing?¡±

    ¡°My sister.  We just took out the rest of the group that attacked us.  Closed off their transit point.  Got their tech on the other side.  I suspect we locked them out for now.¡±

    ¡°Good news then?¡±

    ¡°Good news.¡±

    The pair entered Momma¡¯s Pizza, it was an old-style restaurant with a kids pizza place and arcade attached.  It had been the same as it was since the seventies.  Most of the carpets and tables were original.  Momma was different, she was the granddaughter of the original owner, but everyone still called her Momma.  Her mother still worked there from time to time.  The kids had already gotten the tables pushed together and were laughing and having a ball talking.  The pizza and pop were flowing freely.  Momma as the kids called her, noticed Carly and walked over.

    ¡°Imagine seeing Carly Sheppard, War Hero watching a bunch of high school kids.¡±

    Carly hugged her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have enough grey hair for me to call you momma yet Lilly.¡±

    Lilly laughed.

    ¡°So, what are you still doing here?  I thought you were headed back to Washington.¡±

    ¡°I got a phone call.  One if the kids is well, can¡¯t say much more then needs someone watching them.¡±

    Lilly nodded.

    ¡°So that is why some crazy British lady called me and pre-paid triple my usual take for the entire night for three hours.¡±

    Carly pointed at Eyre.

    ¡°There¡¯s your crazy British lady.¡±

    Eyre smiled and offered her hand.

    ¡°Name is Eyre and thank you for accommodating us on such short notice.¡±

    ¡°No problem.  The kids are like my kids they are in here so much.  I swear three times a week for some of them.¡±

    ¡°So, which one is it?¡±

    ¡°Sarah, can¡¯t say why, but she¡¯s leaving for Scotland tonight.  She asked for her last night to be here with her friends.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s such a sweetie.  Always calls me ma¡¯am, and that accent.  It¡¯s too bad.  She seems to have finally settled in.  If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say that Richard boy is sweet on her.¡±

    Eyre nodded. She turned back to the kids, and she noticed Sarah looking at her with a wide smile on her face.  She smiled back.  Lilly wandered back off towards the kids.  Carly looked at Eyre.

    ¡°Sarah looks happy.¡±

    ¡°I know, I¡¯m worried about her though.  She has no idea what is ahead of her.  So much power at her disposal. These limiters are rated for PL18+.  She¡¯s probably the most powerful super in three generations. Since Void.  It never ends well for them.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to tell her?¡±

    ¡°Hell no.  I¡¯m going to tell her she¡¯s a PL8. And that¡¯s what is going on her government documents.¡±

    ¡°Can you do that?  Won¡¯t it put people at risk?¡±

    ¡°It will, but the alternative is I put her in the system at PL18+ and the leaks we have it get to the wrong people and they are after her for their own means, the rest of the school hears and next thing you know she¡¯s being pointed at by everyone.  They¡¯re all expecting great things from her, the Scottish Government, MANA, Earth Gov.  Bad enough she¡¯s alternate Earther.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure I agree, but you know your world better than I do.  Are you telling me this so I can help keep an eye on her at the school?¡±

    ¡°Among other things.¡±

    ¡°Do you see it too?  When I look at her and I concentrate I see something else.  Some shadow of something.¡±

    ¡°I do. It is because she so powerful.  It makes her look bigger than she does to our senses.¡±

    Lilly motioned for Carly to join her.

    ¡°Do you mind?¡±

    ¡°Have fun.  Looks like everything is under control here, if I can¡¯t control thirty teenagers, I have no rights running a high school.¡±

    Eyre continued leaning on the pillar.  The kids had finished eating and were starting to drift to the video games.  The rest of the night was quiet.  She had to break up a few make out sessions, one of them Sarah and Richard.  She also took part in the ad hoc dancing game tournament that Momma Lilly decided to run. Richard won the prize which was a free pizza coupon.  He looked so happy about it then looked at Sarah and his face fell.  Eyre eventually lost track of the two and found them sitting on the front steps talking.  Sarah was looking at her nails while they chatted.  Eyre watched out the window for any signs of trouble but left them to think they were alone.

    Sarah leaned close to Richard and bumped him with her shoulder.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t stand a chance when we teamed up.¡±

    Richard smiled shyly.

    ¡°I felt bad, I knew they were going to get crushed.¡±

    ¡°Why did you look so sad when we won?¡±

    ¡°Because I realized we wouldn¡¯t be sharing this.¡±

    He held up the free pizza coupon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find someone.  Sally seems to have eyes for you.¡±

    ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she keeps stealing glances.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s your friend it would feel weird.¡±

    ¡°What is so weird?  I¡¯m going to be in Scotland and Germany and hey you know I¡¯m going to be playing for the women¡¯s Olympic hockey team for Scotland.  I won¡¯t have time for my adoring fans here.  I need to be focused on crushing your hockey team.¡±

    Richard laughed, his hand drifting to her thigh.

    ¡°And if Sally is on the women¡¯s Olympic hockey team for the USA, and you¡¯re dating, I promise I¡¯ll leave her a few teeth.¡±

    They pushed their foreheads together and kissed.  They sat together silently for what seemed eternity their legs pressed together, and they leaned on each other.  Eventually kids started joining them.  Sarah stood up and started hugging her friends as their parents came to pick them up Richard had left a while before and Hana was the last out.  Sarah hugged her.

    ¡°You better send me videos, show me how awesome this private school is.  And I want to see Scotland.¡±

    ¡°I promise Hana.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you, Sarah.  You made school worth going to again.¡±

    She waved and got into the car with her mother leaving Sarah alone with Carly and Eyre.  People were starting to show up and going inside.  Enid looked at Sarah.

    ¡°Ready for a plane ride?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.  She wiped up a few tears Carly wrapped her arm around the teen¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°If I was stuck in quarantine with two cranky old teachers I would cry too.¡±

    ¡°It will be one teacher to be, I need to use the express route.  I have some things to sort out for Sarah on the other side.¡±

    Carly looked up at Eyre.

    ¡°Wait there¡¯s an express way to get through quarantine?  Can I get in on that?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°Depends. Were you ever planning on having children?  What are your feelings about severe radiation sickness?  Glowing in the dark?¡±

    ¡°Two weeks in quarantine with Sarah sounds fine.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?  I can sign off on it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, very sure.¡±

    Sarah giggled at the two as they drove towards the airport.  Eyre handed both of Sarah¡¯s phones back to her.

    ¡°There you go.¡±

    Sarah started going through her phone immediately.  She saw a message from Richard which she immediately opened it was a link to a video. It was Candace. Sarah frowned and pressed play.  Candace looked healthy.  Sarah was a bit shocked and looked at Eyre who was watching the road.  Candace was still in the hospital.  She had tears in her eyes.

    ¡°I have a confession to make.  I bullied a girl who was the nicest person I¡¯ve ever met to the point she committed suicide.  I can¡¯t undo it or bring her back.  Her name was Samantha and she liked roses and volleyball.  I did the same thing to another girl her name is Sarah.  Sarah did nothing to me ever, her only crime in my eyes was that she befriended Samantha.  I was wrong.  They were both amazing people and I am a terrible person.  I should have died in this bed, but I got a second chance so I¡¯m trying to start right.  I am telling you this so that you realize that being a bully has serious consequences for people.  Hate is wrong.  I was wrong and if you¡¯re bullying someone, you¡¯re wrong.  Please remember Samantha, because if you don¡¯t then the person who you¡¯re bullying could be the next Samantha.¡±

    The video ended with a picture from there school yearbook of her and Samantha sitting together on the bleachers at a football game with Hana doing rabbit ears behind them. It had the words - Samantha ¡°Sam¡± Thompson, RIP 2012-2025.

    Sarah wiped away a few tears as she remembered Samantha.  That was a good day.  They had eaten way too much candy from Halloween the night before. Carly glanced back she said something Sarah couldn¡¯t hear, and Sarah slid her noise cancelling headphones down.

    ¡°Everything okay Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just¡­its some sort of miracle.  Candace just posted a video confessing to everything she did, she looks like she¡¯s fine.¡±

    Carly nodded. Eyre kept her eyes on the road ahead.

    ¡°Sorry just making sure.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Sarah pulled her headphones up and put on a playlist and closed her eyes and leaned her head back.  She drifted off and when she woke it was because Eyre was shaking her.

    ¡°Sarah, wake up, we¡¯re at the plane.¡±

    Sarah rubbed her eyes and looked out the open door.  They were on the tarmac at some airstrip.  A sleek black private jet was there with its engines running.  Sarah nodded and got up stiffly. She got on the plane it was like a luxury hotel room.  She pulled her headphones down when Eyre tapped her on the shoulder.

    ¡°This is where I leave you. I¡¯ll see you in two weeks.  From here you¡¯ll take off and you will land in Alberta, Canada.  You¡¯ll be driven to a site from the airport in Edmonton it doesn¡¯t look like much from the outside, but it is a transit point.  You will enter quarantine which is on Earth ¨C 634.  It is a dead world basically you¡¯ll look outside, and it will be like you¡¯re on the moon.  Gravity is the same.  You¡¯ll spend two weeks there you and Ms. Sheppard will get your second doses of T-Cell enhancer.  While there you will not be able to communicate with the outside without using the hard-wired computer. The facility has a full suite of pre-made rations. It also has a wide variety of media, along with some materials to review for familiarization with Earth Prime, I suggest you both review the later in detail.  From there you will exit you will get a ride to Edmonton International Airport on the other side.  You will get on a suborbital flight to Glasgow where Ms. Sheppard will hand you off to your grandparents.  Your belongings will arrive within two days on a conventional jet.  Until they take you, Ms. Sheppard is your legal guardian.  Once you arrive on Earth-Prime you will be provided with Scottish and US passports.¡±

    Eyre looked at Carly.

    ¡°You are cleared for transit.  All the paperwork is in order on the other side.  You will be provided with an Earth Gov passport and ID.  You will be provided with an Earth Gov currency account with your signing bonus and some funds to ensure you can get started.  You can use them as you see fit anything that is left over when you finish your employment will be converted to an Earth-2 currency of your choice.  I was unable to get you an LOA from the US Navy, however the President has signed off on you being on loan to Earth Gov for one year, with the option of extension if yourself, the US government and the school decide the arrangement is beneficial.  You will be provided with a wage from both your military and the school.  You have been asked to act as head of the security detail for a contingent from your government following you through in two weeks.  Do you have any questions?¡±

    ¡°Sure, how the hell did you arrange all that so fast?¡±

    ¡°I have the President¡¯s cell phone number.¡±

    Carly laughed.

    ¡°Well good thing I don¡¯t have a boyfriend.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°Sarah, I will see you in September.  Lt. Cmdr. Sheppard I¡¯ll see you in a month or so.¡±

    Eyre waved and walked out of the plane which began to taxi.  Sarah looked out the window and saw a row of F-35¡¯s and she looked at Carly.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am are we on a military base?¡±

    ¡°Yes Luke, its where they patched you up after you got shot.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I wish I could have thanked the doctors.¡±

    ¡°That probably would have been awkward considering you should still be in hospital with a gunshot wound.¡±

    Sarah blushed and nodded.  She put her headphones on and pulled out a book and started to read it.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Aurelius Academy

    Sarah was riding in the back of the black SUV. She looked out the tinted windows.  The forest around the road was populated by strange trees.  A portion of them had silver bark and blue leaves that shimmered and sparkled in the strange twilight this world seemed to exist in.  Some were a dark green, almost black others purple.  The shapes were similar to the trees she was used to.  She saw a silhouette emerge from the shadow of the forest it was massive and it hit some field of white energy and fell backwards.  She jumped it tried a couple more times and it seemed to lose interest.  The driver in the car who was a normal seeming man, but he spoke English with a strong Russian accent.

    ¡°Hydra.  Big and Dumb.  Never learn not to smack into energy shield.¡±

    ¡°Are there a lot of them, sir?¡±

    ¡°Da.  Common close to barrier. It is their natural habitat.¡±

    ¡°Is it always this dark here?¡±

    ¡°Nyet, at night and in winter it gets much darker.  Very depressing.¡±

    ¡°So, the sun never shines?¡±

    ¡°Only on school. You¡¯ll see.  It is sunny day.  Very warm.¡±

    ¡°Are you a teacher?¡±

    ¡°Nyet, Security force.¡±

    ¡°We need a security force?¡±

    ¡°Nyet, just make governments feel better.  I am Russian soldier, Spetsnaz.  Very prestigious posting here at school.¡±

    ¡°You are Scottish, Da?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Are you strong?¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­they said I¡¯m a PL8.¡±

    ¡°Very good.  You get good job when you grow up.  You know Russia always looking for new super¡¯s pay is good. If you don¡¯t mind cold.¡±

    ¡°I miss the cold, I¡¯ve been stuck in Arizona for two years.  Miss playing hockey on outdoor rinks.¡±

    ¡°Da, Hockey, good sport.  Russia has good team.¡±

    ¡°Did Russia basically send you here to recruit supers at a young age.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°Da, I get bonus.¡±

    ¡°Well, sir, I will consider the offer. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m that useful I can only make plants grow and do something they call TK.¡±

    ¡°Very useful.  Plants are food, bigger plants, more food.  Feeding people good, Da?¡±

    ¡°I guess it is.¡±

    ¡°We are almost there.  You know way to dorm?¡±

    ¡°I have a map, thank you for the ride. Sorry I was late and made you late.¡±

    ¡°It no problem.  Gave me time for smoke.  I see you around Sarah.¡±

    He pulled into a parking lot with several other SUV¡¯s and a bus.  Sarah got out and the Russian soldier helped her get her luggage out. She extended the handle and started walking towards the school.  She was wearing a tartan skirt and a blouse.  Her platinum blonde hair was in a long braid.  She looked over the buildings she could see in her immediate vicinity. The whole school campus looked like some mix of 18<sup>th</sup> century buildings and modern glass buildings.  She looked up at the sun light as it shone down on her.  The horizon looked strange as the sun gave way to twilight at the edges of the campus. She saw most of the students in the area were her age.  The older students already having gone off to their dorms leaving the grade 9¡¯s to gawk at the new world.  She pulled out her phone and looked at the map.  It was giving her the path to take to her dorm, so she followed it.  She was eager to kick off her shoes and let her grandparents know she¡¯d arrived safely, both sets.

    Her dorm looked like a 19<sup>th</sup> century mansion.  The sign in front of it stated: Umbra Hall.  The inside matched the exterior save for the obvious LED power saving bulbs.  She was met by none other than Carly Sheppard who was wearing a skirt and blouse and looked much more professional than last time she¡¯d seen her.  Carly smiled when she saw her.

    ¡°Ms. Sheppard.¡±

    ¡°So formal.  Can I have a hug?¡±

    Sarah hugged her.  Carly held her out at arm¡¯s length.

    ¡°You¡¯re looking good.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°I started on medication to help, well make things move along faster.¡±

    ¡°You look so much better.  You were so thin before.¡±

    ¡°My Nan, she doesn¡¯t know the meaning of too much food.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t all Grandmother¡¯s like that?¡±

    ¡°I think they are because my other grandma was the same way.¡±

    ¡°So, they wanted to see you after all?¡±

    ¡°Aye. They were so excited that they had a biological granddaughter.  I think they are even visiting with my mom.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s walk and talk I have a lot of students to greet today.  You are the first to arrive.¡±

    Sarah nodded and started following Carly.

    ¡°I wanted to call my grandparents, let them know I got here safe.¡±

    ¡°How is the mom thing going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still not talking to her.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to call your parents and let them know you got her safe?¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m going to call my grandparents. They are so worried about me.  Like I¡¯m going to poof off the face of the Earth.¡±

    ¡°Well, you sort of did, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I guess I did.  Did you¡­ umm tell your sister?¡±

    ¡°I told my family I was teaching at a very exclusive private school in Germany by special request.    Here is your room.  Your bunk mates have not arrived yet.  So, you get your choice of bed.¡±

    Sarah nodded and gave Carly one last hug.

    ¡°I missed you Ms. Sheppard.¡±

    ¡°I missed you too Sarah, who knew spending two weeks on an obliterated version of Earth would form such close ties.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°See you at the house meeting tonight after supper.¡±

    Carly waved and wandered back down the hall.  Sarah looked around the room.  It wasn¡¯t exactly luxury.  In fact, it looked old, but clean.  There was a common area and four individual rooms with a desk and a bed in them.  She picked the one on the far-left end, it was twice the size of the others. She started unpacking.  She was still tired; she hadn¡¯t taken her meds today.  She had been advised to take breaks when she was not in school, so she hadn¡¯t.  Of course, that meant she had totally messed up her schedule.  She was still talking to most of her friends and sometimes the time difference meant it was 3 am for her.  She had started playing video games with them.  Somehow Eyre had managed to get her a game console from the other side, and she was happily playing first person shooters with Richard.  She hadn¡¯t been able to bring it with her since it was technically contraband, so she had spent the last night playing until 5 am with him.  She had her phone on her desk and she had one of her play lists playing as she unpacked.  She was dancing the whole time so when the door creaked open and a black-haired girl with the strangest magenta eyes peaked in, she jumped and blushed a deep red.

    ¡°I thought I heard some decent music playing for once.¡±

    Sarah still blushing offered her hand.

    ¡°Sarah MacCloud.  I guess I¡¯m your roommate?¡±

    The girl took her hand.

    ¡°Amee Morris.  And I think you are right.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re American?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Mostly.  I have some parts that I think came from Japan, maybe some from China.¡±

    Sarah blinked.  Amee laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m a cyborg. It¡¯s just a bad joke.¡±

    Sarah blinked.

    ¡°A cyborg.¡±

    ¡°It is a very long story that is better told when we¡¯re eating ice cream and staying up past curfew. Unless you¡¯re one of those annoying rules following goodie goodies.¡±

    Sarah chuckled softly and continued unpacking.

    ¡°So, what kind of freak of nature are you?¡±

    ¡°I am a PL8 Life and TK super.  I am also a magic user of some type.¡±

    ¡°So, I should stay away from plants if I annoy you?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    ¡°Cool.  I¡¯m going to unpack.  You want to go exploring later?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Nice, oh and cool outfit.¡±

    Sarah blushed again and focused on her unpacking.  She heard a couple of more people come into the room and peaked out.  There was a dark-haired girl whose eyes had a slight dullness to them, her skin was so pale and her lips had a slight blue tinge them, Sarah thought she might be a zombie.  She wore a very conservative black dress with a bit of lace.  She looked like one of the old Italian ladies she would see at church on Sundays.  The ones who still wore veils.  She had a worn silver crucifix around her neck.  She had her eyes on the ground and she didn¡¯t look up to see the other girls.  Another girl followed closely behind her.  She was also dark haired she had almost turquoise eyes.  She was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans her hair was cut short and dyed purple.  Her nails were covered pearlescent nail polish.  She looked like she had just walked out of a seventies punk band album cover.  Her hard suitcase was covered in stickers most of which were offensive in some way.  Sarah slipped back into her room.  None of them looked like they were remotely like her.  She had a bit of a mini-panic attack if this were a normal school she would be nowhere near any of these girls, except maybe Amee.  She put her noise canceling headphones on and laid on her already made bed.

    She must have drifted off and she wasn¡¯t sure how much later it was the sun had definitely changed position.  Her foot was being shaken.  Sarah pulled off her headphones.

    ¡°Hey sleepy head, you said you would explore with me.¡±

    Sarah yawned and sat up.

    ¡°Sorry I was up late. Let me get some runners on.¡±

    Sarah pulled on her running shoes and started tying them Amee was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a pair of runners to. Sarah opened her drawer and dropped her phone in, the phone calls from her grandparent¡¯s unseen.  The punk girl was nowhere to be seen the creepy dead girl had her door closed.  Amee saw Sarah staring at the door.

    ¡°Yep, she¡¯s a vampire.  No vital signs.¡±

    ¡°All the vampires I¡¯ve seen have looked alive, I couldn¡¯t tell the difference, I thought she was a zombie.¡±

    ¡°Her name is Maria, don¡¯t know much else.  And the other one is Kerri, she¡¯s British.  From what I can tell Maria is Italian?¡±

    ¡°Honestly if she wasn¡¯t our age I would have figured she was one of those old Italian ladies at mass who still wear veils.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god totally!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re catholic too?¡±

    ¡°Most of the time.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Sarah laughed. The pair made their way down the hallway.  They got outside the sun was still in the sky.

    ¡°Where to first?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°How about we just see where we end up?¡±

    Amee gave a small cheer.

    ¡°I can get behind that plan, no plan!¡±

    ¡°You seem pretty happy to be here.¡±

    ¡°You have no idea.  It is so nice to be around people my age.  I just spent the last four months stuck in secure research building with a bunch of engineers and scientist who were butt hurt I was smarter than them.  So, soul crushing.  First time I was there refused to let me leave.  Too valuable.  So, I left anyway.¡±

    Sarah gasped.

    ¡°Are you like even supposed to be here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  They sent MANA agents to track me down, the Headmistress found me first and advised them against taking me back in because there was no place they could keep me I didn¡¯t want to be because I could take over their entire computer systems without leaving my cell.  She said she twisted some arms, I¡¯m not sure if she was talking metaphorically or literally.  She seems like the type who would do either.¡±

    ¡°Totally yep.¡±

    ¡°Oh, see that, that building over there.¡±

    She pointed to one of the newest looking buildings.  So new the sod was still taking root.

    ¡°I designed that.  It¡¯s a massive fusion reactor.  It replaced a way less powerful Nuclear Reactor. It powers the whole place, even the energy field, which I also improved.¡±

    ¡°Wow?  Why are you even in school?¡±

    ¡°Because I still need to learn how to use my abilities better, and well, it¡¯s nice to feel normal.  So, what¡¯s your story?  Headmistress told me some stuff but¡­ well I¡¯d rather hear it from you she seems like she might leave stuff out.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I always get the feeling she¡¯s like keeping a lot back.¡±

    ¡°So, spill, what¡¯s your story? I mean I¡¯m assuming you¡¯re the one from my Earth.  I should say our Earth.  The other two seem like¡­they would be out of place.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re from Earth-2?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I was born there too.¡±

    ¡°See I knew there was a reason your music didn¡¯t suck.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of does suck here, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s like they got stuck in the fifties.¡±

    ¡°We are totally going to open their minds to awesome.¡±

    The laughed and chatted about the different bands they liked Sarah updating Amee on the latest celebrity gossip, movies and music.  They ended up sitting with their feet in the pond enjoying the late summer afternoon and cool water.  Amee adjusted her black bangs and squinted at Sarah.

    ¡°Why do I feel like we¡¯ve known each other forever?¡±

    ¡°I donno, I feel the same way.¡±

    Sarah bit her lip gently.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because we¡¯re so used to dealing with people from this Earth?¡±

    ¡°You know what?  That has to be it.¡±

    Amee laid back and Sarah joined her.  She smiled to herself at the fact she had a chest that didn¡¯t fully compress when she laid down.

    ¡°So, do you have a boyfriend Sarah MacCloud from the Clan MacCloud?¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°Oh, you do!¡±

    ¡°Yes, his name is Richard.  He thinks I¡¯m at German private school on Earth-2.¡±

    ¡°Wow that is a long-distance relationship, a continent and whole dimension away.¡±

    ¡°I told him to ask out my friend Sally she¡¯s always liked him.  He refuses.  Silly boy.¡±

    Amee looked over at Sarah who met her gaze.

    ¡°But you¡¯re still talking to him?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Yes, he is my friend.¡±

    ¡°You need to stop boys in their tracks they always think there¡¯s a chance if you¡¯re still talking to them.  Right now, he thinks you¡¯re going to come walking through his classroom door in a bikini.¡±

    Sarah blushed a deep red.

    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t wear a bikini I won¡¯t even take the towel off at swim meets until I am about to dive in.¡±

    ¡°Woah, why?¡±

    ¡°You know how you said you¡¯re being a cyborg is a story for a night when we¡¯re staying up way past curfew and eating ice cream? My story about my refuse to wear a bikini and show myself in a one-piece bathing suit is that but the ice cream better be double chocolate fudge.¡±

    ¡°Ouch.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Anyway, what I was about to say before your admission that you hate your body, is that you need to make it clear there is no chance.  I mean we¡¯re the same, Earth-Prime says we¡¯re too powerful for a non-magical world.  No way we¡¯re going home unless it is as MANA agents.  So, since there is no chance, he will be able to get his little Richard anywhere near you, you need to cut off contact.  Tell him you found someone else.  Lie if you must.¡±

    Sarah blushed and made an eew sound.

    ¡°Little Richard? No, he¡¯s not like that.¡±

    ¡°Okay first lesson I¡¯m going to teach you is: all boys are like that.  They have two heads and most of their thinking is done with the small one.¡±

    Amee motioned with her hands as she spoke.

    ¡°So right now, Little Richard is telling Big Richard that you¡¯re going to come through his door any moment in a bikini.  So Big Richard is stuck in this limbo.  So, don¡¯t be a dick to Dick and his dick.  Let him fly free.¡±

    Sarah shifted uncomfortably.  She realized she had been stringing him along, but Amee was absolutely right, as a PL8 there was no way she¡¯d be allowed back there unless it was for a MANA mission. Sarah sighed.

    ¡°Sorry Sarah. But as your friend. I need to tell you the hard truths.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re friends?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  You¡¯re stuck with me.  It¡¯s not like I can hang out with any of these other losers, I mean come on what kind of pretentious name is Earth-Prime anyway?¡±

    Sarah giggled and looked up the wood dock when she felt footsteps, Amee did the same thing.

    ¡°Oh, oh, don¡¯t look now it¡¯s the Gestapo.¡±

    Sarah recognized him as the Russian soldier who had dropped her off at the school he spoke in Russian and walked up to the pair.

    ¡°What is Gestapo?¡±

    Amee laughed.

    ¡°Uh¡­ never mind.  Sir.¡±

    He shrugged and looked at Sarah.

    ¡°You come with me.  Ms. Sheppard looking for you. Sent me to find you.¡±

    Sarah sat up and picked up her shoes.  Amee looked at her and followed her.

    ¡°How did you find us?¡±

    He pointed at Sarah¡¯s ankle limiter.

    ¡°You are still wearing.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Why you not get it taken off?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit scared, things have been so good since I¡¯ve been wearing it.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need.  School safe.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Tell you what, you need someone to look out for you, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±

    ¡°Nyet, call me Misha.¡±

    He felt around his pockets and pulled out a card.  He handed it to Sarah who looked at it she could make out a phone number the rest was in Cyrillic.  She found herself being able to read it easily.  Misha Gurin, Major.

    ¡°Major Misha Gurin.¡±

    ¡°You read Cyrillic?¡±

    ¡°I guess I do.¡±

    He laughed. He spoke in Russia.

    ¡°Then you are ready to move to Russia after school.¡±

    Sarah responded in Russian without thinking.

    ¡°You are really pushing hard on this recruitment thing.¡±

    ¡°I have a little girl.  Good bonus means I can send her to this school.¡±

    Sarah smiled.  Amee looked between the two not understanding a word.

    ¡°You speak very good Russian, if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think you were from southern Russia.¡±

    Sarah blinked having realized she was carrying on a conversation in a language she could not speak. Or didn¡¯t think she could speak or understand.

    ¡°I guess the person who taught me was from Southern Russia.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°They taught you well.¡±

    They reached his SUV and he motioned for them together in.  Sarah kept speaking in Russian without thinking.

    ¡°Did Ms. Sheppard say why she wanted to see me?¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°She just said use your ankle monitor to track you down and get you back to the dorm.¡±

    He pulled up to the dorm. Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Thank you for the ride, Misha.¡±

    ¡°Anytime Sarah, maybe we talk more, so you can keep your Russian good.¡±

    Sarah nodded. She got out of the car and waved Amee followed her. Amee was looking at her still.

    ¡°I thought you were Scottish.¡±

    ¡°Aye, I am.¡±

    ¡°You sounded like a Russian back there.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I have no idea how I know Russian. He spoke Russian, and it just started coming out.  I wasn¡¯t even thinking.  I mean like he spoke Russian my mouth responded in Russian, my brain was even thinking in it, I understood every word.¡±

    ¡°Weird are you sure you¡¯re not some like deep cover spy?¡±

    ¡°Erm¡­ I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s not the first time.  I heard the headmistress and her sister talking once and it wasn¡¯t English not even sure what it was, but I understood them perfectly.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you have some language power too or something.¡±

    Sarah shrugged. The common area of the dorm was pretty full and Carly walked up to the pair.

    ¡°First things first, I¡¯ll get your limiter removed Sarah, and second call your damn grandparents.  They are so worried about you they called the Headmistress who called me, who went looking for you and found you gone from your room and your roommates having no clue where you¡¯d gotten off too.¡±

    Sarah heard more than a few giggles and laughter at her expense she blushed while nodding all she managed was a meek.

    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there go, call them.¡±

    She shook her head and walked off to deal with something else. Amee laughed and patted Sarah on the back.

    ¡°Now you¡¯re the girl whose grandparents think can¡¯t get to school on her own.  It¡¯s okay I¡¯ll still hang out with you.  It will be a challenge but I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    Sarah blushed some more and rushed upstairs to make her phone calls, cursing her not taking her ADHD meds the whole way.  She jumped on her bed and started with a viddy as her grandparents called it. She saw her Nan¡¯s face appear.

    ¡°Sarah! You¡¯re alright.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I am Nan. I fell asleep.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you stay up all night playing your video games.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Nan.  I just lost track of time and forgot to call.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t take your meds before you left, did you?¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°Aye you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Doctor said I should only take them on school days, so my body gets a break.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that works for other kids, but you would forget your head if wasn¡¯t attached.  Now how is the school?  They got you in the old drafty one, don¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Maple wing, I¡¯m in room 18.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you know it same room as my first year. Making you stay with four girls when there are single person rooms.  Made me stay there because I was from a magic family and there were three kids there who were first generation.  Wanted me to help them make feel welcome.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind Nan.  I met an American girl, she¡¯s from the same Earth as me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good.  Be better if she wasn¡¯t American. But can¡¯t have everyone be perfect.  Who else is with you?¡±

    ¡°A very dead looking vampire girl and punk mage?¡±

    ¡°What is the mage¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Kerri, she has purple hair and turquoise eyes, I wish I looked like that.  I look so washed out all the time.¡±

    ¡°An Apple?  They put you in there with an Apple?  The nerve.  Reckless mages, the lot of them.  I should call and complain.  They have no rights been near respectable girls.¡±

    ¡°Who are the Apples?¡±

    ¡°Reckless mages.  No control, no finesse.  It¡¯s downright offensive she put you in there with her.¡±

    ¡°Nan, I¡¯m sure its fine.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know them like I do.¡±

    ¡°Nan it¡¯s okay, she seems nice.¡±

    ¡°And a vampire! Madness.  They belong with their own kind, not near living breathing girls.¡±

    ¡°Nan, it¡¯s okay.  She wouldn¡¯t be here if it wasn¡¯t safe, none of us would be.¡±

    Her grandmother blustered a bit.

    ¡°Well, you be careful.¡±

    ¡°Nan, I need to call my other Grandma she called the school too.¡±

    ¡°Fine, but you make sure you call every day and watch that vampire and Apple like a hawk.  Don¡¯t trust them as far as you can throw them.¡±

    ¡°Aye Nan.¡±

    Sarah giggled and hung up and dialed her other Grandmother.  The older woman who also had grey hair but was thin, very much Sarah¡¯s body type. Her grandmother¡¯s face brightened when she saw Sarah.  Her father¡¯s parents lived in a non-pretentious house. They were wealthy enough because her grandmother was an archmage, mostly retired, but her other grandparents were very posh.  Everything was just so, and she never saw her grandmother out of sorts.  Hair always looked perfect and her dress always impeccable, usually a nice dress.  Her nan on the hand wore plaid button up shirts every time she got.

    ¡°Sarah, lord be praised you had us worried, I know how doddering your nan can be, glad you got there safe.¡±

    ¡°Hi Grandma.¡±

    ¡°So how is your room?  Is it a nice one?  I made a call.¡±

    Her eyes got narrowed as she looked behind Sarah.

    ¡°Are you in one of the group rooms?¡±

    ¡°Yes Grandma.¡±

    ¡°Absurd.  My granddaughter treated like some common scholarship child.  You are PL15M-8 that warrants a single room on the top floor with a view!¡±

    ¡°Grandma is fine. I like having roommates.  It means I have automatic friends.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but friends with scholarship children, you may as well hang out with the servants.  You are from two prestigious powered families, and they are treating you like some common PL1 there on a scholarship!¡±

    Sarah forced herself not to roll her eyes.  Her mother¡¯s or well her mother¡¯s duplicate¡¯s parents were wealthy landed nobles and powerful supers.  He was a healer of great renown and a doctor.  Her grandmother was a mind manipulator, a PL13.  They tended to be a bit full of themselves.

    ¡°Grandma, its fine, really.  I like my room.  It is further back from the hallway it means it is quieter.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m still putting in a complaint, this treatment of a Grey and a MacDonald is offensive!¡±

    ¡°Grandma, I need to go it¡¯s going to be dinner soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you should eat.  You are still skin and bones.¡±

    ¡°I love you Grandma.¡±

    ¡°We love you too, Sarah.  Remember you¡¯re a MacDonald, remember to behave like one.¡±

    ¡°Yes Grandma.¡±

    Sarah hung up the call and rolled over sighing heavily.  It had only been two months and she loved her grandparents on both sides but sometimes they were a trial for her to deal with. She was staring at her phone. She heard her door creak all the way open, she hadn¡¯t closed it fully and she heard Amee¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Remember don¡¯t be a dick to Dick.¡±

    Sarah sighed.

    ¡°Are you going to let it go?¡±

    ¡°Nope.  If you¡¯re still stuck up on him, you won¡¯t even look at the boys here.  And what kind of friend would I be if I let you sit in your room staring at the wall pining for a boy you will never see again.¡±

    ¡°I have a feeling you¡¯re going to annoy me into a social life here.¡±

    ¡°What gave you that impression?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the fact you keep coming in my room without knocking, you have an opinion on everything, and you are American?¡±

    ¡°Redundant much?  You could have just called me American and covered all that.¡±

    Sarah threw a pillow at Amee who caught it in midair with surprisingly fast reflexes.

    ¡°Sarah MacCloud of the Clan MacCloud, are you starting a pillow war with me?¡±

    In response Sarah threw another pillow which Amee blocked. Then lunged at Sarah and wacked her with pillow she had in her hands.  She did it a few times more and both were giggling uncontrollably when the creepy dead girl appeared behind Amee.

    ¡°Excuse me.  That is against the rules.¡±

    Amee paused and looked back at Maria who was stroking her crucifix.

    ¡°Are you being serious right now?¡±

    Sarah was looking at her now too. Amee threw the pillow to Sarah and moved her eyes to indicate they should go after Maria.

    ¡°Yes.  Anything that could lead to an unplanned event is strictly forbidden.¡±

    Amee leaned down and picked up the fallen pillow then shouted.

    ¡°Get her!¡±

    Sarah lunged at Maria at the same time as Amee and they started hitting her gently with the pillows.  Maria tried to fend off fluffy assault with her arms.  The two living girls were laughing and giggling.

    ¡°I fail to see why you think this is funny.¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s a pillow fight!¡±

    The pair paused in their attack when the saw Carly at their open common room doorway. She looked at the three of them.

    ¡°Supper is in ten minutes.¡±

    They both stared at her as did Maria.  She stepped in the room and tossed one of the throw pillows to Maria.

    ¡°What are you staring at?  You¡¯re in the middle of a pillow war, don¡¯t take this lying down. If she wins, she¡¯ll never shut up about it, trust me I¡¯m American.  Proceed.¡±

    Maria picked up the pillow and hit Amee who was still staring at Carly in the head.  Amee blinked and Maria in spite of her dour appearance began to laugh.

    ¡°Now its war!¡±

    Amee roared and hit Maria back Sarah hit Amee from behind.  Carly¡¯s laughter was lost in the melee of pillows and laughter. Eventually Sarah was out because she was out of breath while the cyborg and vampire who both seemed to have a ridiculous ability to keep up constant energy proceeded to pillow each other into oblivious.  Eventually Amee collapsed out of breath.

    ¡°Okay I surrender.  I surrender.  Need food.¡±

    Maria offered her hand to Amee who took it.  She looked a bit disconcerted when their skin touched but she seemed to shrug it off.

    ¡°Maria you¡¯re alright.¡±

    ¡°I have never done that before. I did not realize it would be that fun.¡±

    Amee offered her hand to Sarah who had gotten her wind back and Sarah pulled herself up.  Amee was moving slower than usual.

    ¡°Need food. Let¡¯s go to dinner.¡±

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Introductions & Parties

    Sarah was looking at Amee like she was some sort of alien. Amee was still eating one of the six granola bars she¡¯d grabbed for dessert on their way out of the cafeteria.

    ¡°You want one?¡±

    Sarah held up her hand and shook her head.

    ¡°No thank you.¡±

    ¡°What are you staring at then?¡±

    ¡°I just, I mean, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen anyone eat that much that fast and you¡¯re still going.  Like aren¡¯t you feeling sick?¡±

    Amee shook her head.  Maria made a shh sound when Carly walked out in front of the grade 9 girls.  She motioned her hands for everyone to be quiet, when that didn¡¯t work, she let out a whistle that made everyone turn and pay attention.  If Sarah didn¡¯t know better, she¡¯d swear Carly used magic to make it that loud.

    ¡°Yo! Shut your pie holes people.¡±

    She had the voice of a drill Sergeant now and wasn¡¯t seeming to broach any noise.

    ¡°Yesh, you girls are worse than a platoon of newbie plebs. Listen up.  I¡¯m here to go over the ground rules for the school.  If you don¡¯t think this is important enough to listen to, I have no problem with assigning you homework to write them out three times, so I make sure you know them.  Next person who opens their pie hole while I¡¯m talking is going to do just that. Got it?¡±

    She held her hand to her ear.  There were a few yeses but otherwise silence and people looking at phones.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m not making myself clear.¡±

    She grabbed the closest phone and tossed it in the direction of a trash bin and it flew in.  There were gasps in the audience and the girl who she¡¯d grabbed it from stood up.

    ¡°Do you know who I am?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but here, under my roof you¡¯re no different any of these other girls. Sit your ass down princess.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t talk to me that way.¡±

    Carly bent down and got in her face and started poking the blonde girl¡¯s shoulder and yelling at her.

    ¡°Princess while you¡¯re in this dorm your ass is mine. Now sit your barbie ass down and shut your mouth.  Unless you want to piss me off more?¡±

    ¡°The headm-.¡±

    ¡°The headmistress isn¡¯t here is she?  In fact, she is the one who said she was getting fed up with what amounts to the growing softness of you lot and this school.  So, she hired me. I¡¯m not here to coddle you or be your mommy, I¡¯m here to make you into strong, independent young women. So, I¡¯m going to ask you does anyone know who I am?¡±

    Sarah held up her hand.

    ¡°You, blondie, who am I?¡±

    ¡°You are the first women in your country to become both a Naval Aviator and a pass the Navy Seal training.  You are a Lt. Cmdr of Naval Intelligence on loan to us from Earth-2¡¯s US Navy.  And you help train new seals¡±

    ¡°That is right, someone read my bio. Do you know what that means you sad lot of tampons?  It means I have had to be stronger, faster, and better than the men around me to get to where I am.  It means that I have heard every single excuse in the book, and some they haven¡¯t written down yet.  I expect you all to follow the letter of the rules.  I will not make any exceptions.  You are a sad and pathetic undisciplined lot, but I¡¯m going to turn you into something better.  If I hear anything about any gossiping or any snide remarks about each other I¡¯m going to haul the person doing so into my office for a real dressing down.  If you think you¡¯re mean, I can be ten times worse.  So, unless you want to spend a night crying on the phone to mommy that Lt. Cmdr. Sheppard, or Ms. Sheppard was mean to you keep your shit to yourselves.  In the future, you may find yourselves depending on each other for your lives if you decide on career¡¯s in MANA.  Guess what.  This is where it starts.  This is where you make friendships for life.  I want you all to know that, that girl there. She pointed at a mouse of a girl with brown hair and glasses. Whose name is Mina by the way will have your back even though you¡¯ve barely spoken two words to each other.  So, if your roommate sneaks out and you come to me and tell me I¡¯m going to punish you both.  Do you know why?¡±

    A girl held up her hand, she was wearing a designer jacket and pants and looked ridiculously wealthy.

    ¡°Because it means they can¡¯t depend on us?¡±

    ¡°That is exactly right.  If you see someone sneaking out, you go with them and make sure they aren¡¯t going to get hurt or in too much trouble, you watch their damn back. Just like you would expect them to watch yours. That said if I catch any of you out after curfew, you¡¯ll know what the word shitstorm really means. Am I making myself clear?¡±

    There were a few yes.

    ¡°Not good enough, when I ask do you understand, or am I making myself clear the only proper response is a very firm and loud: Yes Ma¡¯am. Now am I making myself clear?¡±

    There were a few louder Yes Ma¡¯ams it came easily to Sarah who had been trained this way in her marital arts.

    ¡°All of you, or I¡¯ll say it all again.  Try again.¡±

    Most of the students except for the one that Carly had named Princess responded.

    ¡°That¡¯s better.¡±

    A girl held up her hand she was wearing Jeans and a t-shirt and looked a bit scared but still spoke she spoke with a very Canadian accent.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, we¡¯re not military, why are you treating us like we are?¡±

    ¡°Because, if I treat you like military, I¡¯m treating you like adults.  Unless you want me to treat you like your six-year-olds?  Would you like that?  Should I get a puppet out?¡±

    The girl blushed.

    ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Look you are all fourteen years old, in two cases, older, and in one case much older, that means you¡¯re all young adults.  I¡¯m not going to treat you like teenagers unless you act like teenagers.  I expect you all to follow the rules go to class, study and get good grades.  Now as much as I seem like a hard ass, I am here for you.  You are going to be homesick that is understandable, hell I am already, and I¡¯ve only been here for two months.  Like your dorm sisters I am going to have your back. If we can handle it in house, we will handle it in house. I¡¯m not going to run to the Headmistress for every infraction.  I¡¯m not even going to write you up, but I expect you make your fuck ups right. If you fuck up, you come to me, you admit your fucked up, we will handle it.  If you don¡¯t come to me and it gets out, then you¡¯ll have to deal with the consequences, but I¡¯ll still have your backs.  We are a team.  Your mistakes are my mistakes. So, if you¡¯ve fucked up and if the headmistress or some teacher or security guy is going to come to me about it, I better damn well know what they are talking about before I hear it from them!  You can come to me with anything and if you need punishment, I will make sure you get it, but I will be a hundred times harder on you if I find out on my own.  That being said if you are in so much trouble I cannot protect or rescue from it on my own I will bring in the Headmistress.  Your safety is my number one priority.  While you¡¯re here, you¡¯re my girls and my girls all get home alive and in one piece. Am I being clear?¡±

    The whole room erupted with a loud Yes ma¡¯am.

    ¡°Excellent. Now, I¡¯m going to introduce myself formally, Sarah did a decent job, but you should know who your dorm mother for the year is.  My name is Carly Sheppard, I am thirty-two years old.  I have an undergraduate degree in Physics with a 4.0 GPA, and a master¡¯s degree in Astrophysics from Harvard.  I joined the US Navy when I was 18 years old. I joined because when I was six, I was sitting on my mother¡¯s lap and watched two planes crash into a building full of two thousand innocent people because someone did not agree with US policy and religious beliefs. I started in the reserves as a Seaman Recruit.  While serving I finished my undergrad and my master¡¯s degree.  While I was studying for my masters, I went Reg Force and I signed up as a Naval Aviator.  For those of you who do not know what that means, I can fly fighter jets off an Aircraft Carrier.  When I was twenty-four, I was selected for Navy Fighter Weapons school.  Like the Top Gun movies.  I graduated at top of my class.  When I was twenty-six, I applied for SEALS training.  I was accepted.  I am one of only four women to have completed the training successfully to date.  I served in the teams for three years.  I was then promoted to Lieutenant Commander and reassigned to Naval Intelligence Operations Branch. What that means is I am a military operations specialist. Also known as a covert agent. I do one cycle training new SEALs a year. I am here because my government is in the process of signing a treaty with your Earth Gov.  They wanted to see how students were treated here.  They were worried you were being treated like prisoners and had no rights and freedoms.  I am the Grade 9 science teacher and I also teach advanced physics to seniors.  I volunteered to be your dorm mother because of two reasons, first reason: I am far away from home it is nice to have a family again, second reason: Two of you are from my Earth.  The three of us have a lot to teach you.  An outsider¡¯s perspective can tell you a lot about yourselves I encourage you to learn from us.  Experience our music and our culture.  We are not aliens; We just grew up on a different version of Earth.  While I am still an active member of my military, I have a provisional rank of Major from Earth Gov.  That means if the shit hits the fan, I am fully authorized to use whatever force is necessary to protect you, this school and Earth-Prime.  When referring to me you may call me, Major Sheppard, Ms. Sheppard, Commander Sheppard, or ma¡¯am at your preference all are valid and formal titles.  I don¡¯t care what you call me in your dorm rooms. I have probably been called worse before.  One final note, I come from a world with that is unaware of supers, I am not a super.  It does not mean you can disrespect me anymore then you can disrespect any of your instructors.  We¡¯re all human here.  Is all of that clear?¡±

    The girls responded with a Yes Ma¡¯am.

    ¡°Excellent now on to the official dorm business.  First is to pass out some brand-new state of the art tablets. These Holo-tablets have been provided by Holo-inc.  They are their first generation.  And your school laptops.  These are both yours to keep though if you lose them your legal guardians will be expected to replace them.  You will use the same devices throughout your career here.  You¡¯re the first class who are getting the holo-tablets in the world, I mean Earth-Prime that is. If you run into any issues, we have Holo-inc tech support on campus to assist.¡±

    She held up her wrist and tapped it and a holographic display appeared in front of her.

    ¡°Easy to use and work just like the tablets your used to except it is all packed into this tiny little bracelet.  No need to be picky they are all the same color, which is black.  If I could get six volunteers to hand out bracelets, come down here form six lines and we¡¯ll get you sorted. She looked down at the girl she¡¯d called Princess. Go get your cell phone if I see it out again when I¡¯m talking, I¡¯ll toss it at the floor next time.¡±

    The girl rushed forward and fished it out of the garbage which was empty she looked somewhat relieved and glanced at Carly who winked at her.

    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m not your enemy. I¡¯m on your side.¡±

    The girl nodded and blushed.  After all sixty girls had gotten their devices she folded her hands behind her back and let them settle down.

    ¡°Bring up the Campus Rules on your holo-tablets and let¡¯s review them together.¡±

    She waited as there was a bunch of ruffling and some of the less technically oriented girls such as Maria the vampire struggled with them.  She waited for the girls around them to help out.  Once they had settled down to almost silent, she let out another loud ear-piercing whistle.

    ¡°Alright girls, here we go. First rule on the list is: Do not go outside the Barrier under any circumstances.  That seems clear enough.  Anyone not understand that?¡±

    Sarah put up her hand.

    ¡°Sarah what is your question?¡±

    ¡°Do you know why?¡±

    ¡°Because the rules say so isn¡¯t good enough?¡±

    ¡°Sorry Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Look there is bad shit out there.  I¡¯m not going to go into extreme detail because I want you to be able to sleep at night, I know I couldn¡¯t for the first couple nights after my full briefing.  We¡¯re on an untamed world infused with chaotic magic.  Shit outside the barrier is scary. Leave it at that.¡±

    Sarah nodded along with a few other girls.

    ¡°Second rule: Treat everyone with respect.  That also seems pretty straight forward too.  Third rule:  No powers or magic are to be used in dorms or when off campus on alternate Earths. All spells and powers used by grade 9¡¯s and 10¡¯s are to be done under the observation of an instructor or senior student. Also, pretty straight forward.¡±

    A hand went up, it was Kerri Apples the roommate Sarah had yet to formally meet.

    ¡°What if we need to practice spells for an exam or test?¡±

    ¡°Then you will use the designated practice ranges and rooms provided on campus.  If you need directions your Holo-tablet or phone app have a full map and can lead you there.¡±

    Sarah held up her hand.

    ¡°Yes Sarah?¡±

    ¡°What if we do it by accident, not all of us¡­have great control yet?¡±

    ¡°You will find out what a shitstorm is.  You are here to learn to contain your abilities without limiters if you can¡¯t do that simple thing in your dorms, how can you expect to prove you¡¯re safe to be licensed for power use on Earth-Prime?  You¡¯re a PL8, that is not a massive amount of power to contain Sarah you had no trouble in quarantine, you¡¯ll have no trouble here.  If you¡¯re struggling speak to your roommates maybe they can assist you, or if you need to speak to me in private.¡±

    Sarah blushed and sat down.

    ¡°Any other questions?¡±

    There was silence from the group.  Carly continued to pace with her arms folded behind her back like she was inspecting the troops.

    ¡°Rule 4: All students should be in their dorms by 9:15 pm, all students should be in their dorm rooms by 10:00 pm.  No one is to leave their dorms before 7 am. Lights out 10:30 pm until 7 am. So here is where I¡¯m going to be modifying these rules: I don¡¯t care if you stay up all night studying, reading, or playing video games. But I better not hear a peep out of any of the dorm rooms after 10:30 pm until 7

    <ol>

    <li>And god help you if you whine in front of me about being tired afterwards. I have spoken to the Headmistress, our barrier is safe, our campus is safe, there is no reason that if someone wants to go for a jog at 5 am they should be prevented from doing so. I have gotten her to expand the athletics center and swimming pool hours from 7 am to 5 am.  She has also expanded patrols in the early morning so you can feel safe when jogging.  I know some of you like to go for early morning exercise, I know I do.  I wake up at 5 am.  I go for a jog at 5:15 am. And I swim laps for an hour at 6 am.  If anyone would like to join me for more PT you are more than welcome.¡±</li>

    </ol>

    There was a murmur in the room.

    ¡°Fifth rule: All students are bound by the school¡¯s honor code. Which you must read, it is also on the tablet.  Basically, it amounts to, don¡¯t lie, don¡¯t cheat and don¡¯t be a dumb ass.  I¡¯ll let you review that on your own.  Ignorance is no excuse. And with that sort of violation, I cannot do much for you.  You¡¯ll be on your own.  So do not break this rule or I will disavow your existence. Am I clear?¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡±

    ¡°Now also regarding honor code violations: You will have to defend yourself in front of the Headmistress and a random panel of instructors who were not involved in the accusation. You can have a member of the school staff act as your advocate in the proceedings.  If you ask me, I will support you as best as I can in that role, but I will not lie for you. I value honor and integrity highly; I expect all of you to as well. If we do not have honor and we do not have integrity, then we have nothing. If you are having trouble prepping for a test, or completing an assignment, talk to me, talk to your dorm sisters.  I expect you all to have each other¡¯s back academically and literally. If someone is cheating on a test or assignment, stop them.  Save them from getting caught by the faculty. Do not cheat, you will not get ahead, and you will get caught.  You¡¯re in a school full of supers.  If you can do it, someone better then you has already tried and gotten caught.  Do you all understand?¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to outline that one last time, because it is one of the only rule violations that could get you expelled.  And what does that mean?¡±

    The girl she¡¯d labeled princess whose real name was Sandi Duncan held up her hand.  Carly motioned to her.

    ¡°If you¡¯re over PL8 you will be imprisoned on Earth-9 because you are labeled a danger to yourself and others.  If you¡¯re under PL9 you will not get a license and will be equipped with a permanent monitor and limiter and be banned from all power use and cannot get a job in any field that requires superpowers or security clearance.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ms. Duncan, very concise.¡±

    Sandi looked up at Carly with a surprised look.  Carly smiled at her and then continued.

    ¡°So, in other words do not break this fucking rule, I don¡¯t want any of you to lose your freedom for a stupid mistake.¡±

    Maria put up her hand. Carly motioned to her.

    ¡°Please Maria, go ahead.¡±

    Maria stood up her pale fingers stroking her silver crucifix.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, do you have to swear so much? I find it offensive.  You can get your point across without using those words.¡±

    There were a few snickers in the group, Sarah and Amee where tugging on her hands and trying to get her to sit down.

    ¡°Maria Aurelius, I appreciate your feedback.  I also admire you sticking to your principles and being brave enough to speak up. I¡¯m sorry you feel that way.  However, I¡¯m not going to stop swearing because it bothers your sensitivities. This is one of those cases you¡¯re going to have to grow a thicker skin.¡±

    There was murmur in the group when her last name was mentioned.  Everyone was looking back trying to catch a glimpse of her.  Amee whispered to Maria.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do stuff like that; It makes you seem weird.¡±

    Maria continued to stroke her silver crucifix and seemed to be pondering Carly¡¯s words.  Carly whistled again.

    ¡°Yo, shut your pie holes.  I¡¯m not done with the rules.  The sooner we get through this boring shit the soon we get to party with the boy¡¯s dorm. I¡¯m sure some of you are going to want to go stuff your bras and get your make up on before you go.¡±

    There were a few giggles and Carly kept motioning for silence.

    ¡°Honestly this one seems redundant because it outside the barrier, but I will review it anyway, All contact with the Pillar of Reality, Designated - Tree Crypt, is forbidden.¡±

    A single hand went up, it was Sarah¡¯s.  Carly motioned to her.

    ¡°What is a Pillar of Reality?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a dimensional physicist, yet, but I¡¯m taking a long-distance Ed course on it, yes Girls I¡¯m also attending university this year.  But from the brief overview I have gotten so far, a Pillar of Reality is one of the links between dimensions.  Worlds that have more than three of them are considered DIS 0.  Which means they are completely stable Earths.  So far there have only been three worlds that fit that description.  Basically, they¡¯re like lynch pins that keep our earths linked and stable.  It seems like they were created by a PL21 to stabilize some dimensional instability. That¡¯s all I know; I will probably know more by the end of the year.  There is complicated math involved.¡±

    Sarah sat down.  Several other girls seemed interested in the answer others were distracted by their new devices.

    ¡°Okay so we have about an hour before you need to start getting ready for the party.  And by the way dorm lights out is midnight tonight, be back here by 11:30 pm. Since we have a pile of time let¡¯s start introductions, just stand up and tell us your name, your power if you feel comfortable, and your favorite thing in the world.¡±

    She looked around for volunteers no one volunteered.

    ¡°Okay Room 18, you¡¯re up.  Sarah, you start.¡±

    Sarah blushed and stood up after being singled out.

    ¡°I¡¯m Sarah MacCloud, I¡¯m from Arizona, on Earth-2.  I live in Scotland now with my biological grandparents.  I¡¯m a PL8, Life manipulator and TK.  My favorite thing in the world is playing ice hockey, especially on an outdoor rink on a cold sunny day.¡±

    She sat down and elbowed Amee who stood up.

    ¡°I¡¯m Amee Morris.  I am from Washington DC, on Earth-2.  I am not a super, I am a super advanced cyborg who is equivalent to a super.  My PL is PL17T.  I got a new designation because I¡¯m tech based, I guess.  My favorite thing in the world is playing video games. Which I don¡¯t even have to use my hands for anymore.¡±

    She sat down and motioned for Maria to stand up.

    ¡°I am Maria Aurelius, I am from Rome, I am a vampire.  So, I am PL17-17M with a specialty in Necromancy.  I am here because two thousand years ago my memories were erased, and I was put into suspended animation in a stone sarcophagus.  I am not sure what my favorite thing is, but I do like going to mass.¡±

    Sarah facepalmed Amee kind slide away from Maria.  There were a few chuckles Carly motioned to Kerri.

    ¡°Keep it going Room 18, Ms. Apple?¡±

    Kerri stood up there were a few groans in the group.  Her family name was apparently well known even beyond Sarah¡¯s grandparents.

    ¡°I¡¯m Kerri Apple.  I¡¯m a Mage, PL15M like the rest of my family.¡±

    Her face turned kind of mean at that point.

    ¡°That is where the similarities end alright? I¡¯m not my mom or my aunts.  If you treat me like them, I¡¯ll fuck your shit up!¡±

    She blinked innocently at Carly who sighed and motioned for to continue.

    ¡°My favorite thing is Punk music from Earth-2.  Fight the power!¡±

    She sat down and there was a bit of a murmur.  The introductions continued and when they finished which was fifteen minutes before the end of the meeting was due Carly hushed everyone.

    ¡°Okay girls, we will have a dorm meeting once a week on Mondays after class.  They will be shorter than this one and less formal unless I¡¯m told to announce something, even if they are informal attendance is mandatory!  Now go get yourselves gussied up for the party.  You can head over to the event hall whenever you¡¯re ready.¡±

    The trio of Room 18ers rushed to their room to get ready well Amee and Sarah rushed.  Maria hurried after them because she was hurrying without really understanding the why. Amee and Sarah piled into the bathroom and started getting showers and doing their hair. Kerri laid on the couch and was messing with her holo-tablet.  Maria was in the bathroom watching the two get ready.  They were putting make-up on when she finally spoke.

    ¡°Why are you so excited?¡±

    Amee rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Boys?¡±

    ¡°I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°There are going to be boys at the party this is our first chance to make them drool over us. Why else would be we going?¡±

    Kerri hollered from the common room.

    ¡°Girls should not need to sexualize themselves to gain social status.¡±

    Amee leaned around the corner of the shared bathroom.

    ¡°Look you have your way of being a peacock we have ours.  Some of us like being drooled over Ms. Feminist.¡±

    Maria continued to watch them.

    ¡°It is unseemly for girls our age to be wearing that much make-up.  We should be conservative in our dress and our behavior so that we do not cause temptation.¡±

    Amee groaned.

    ¡°Temptation is the whole point of being a teenage girl.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I like looking pretty but I don¡¯t think I need to suddenly be boy crazy.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, remember, don¡¯t be a dick to Dick.¡±

    ¡°I know I¡¯ll get around to it, but I¡¯m not really interested.¡±

    Kerri had joined them by now and was in one of the stalls.  She called out.

    ¡°Who is she being a dick to?¡±

    ¡°There is a boy she was dating back on Earth-2 and she is totally stringing him along, I told her to cut him loose once and for all.¡±

    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s not cool making him think you¡¯re coming back.¡±

    Sarah sighed and threw up her hands.  Maria spoke next.

    ¡°Yes, if you have intention on having a relationship with him then you should tell him the truth.  It is not right to lie to someone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to him.  I swear I told him I am not coming back you should date Sally, so many times.¡±

    Kerri came out and washed her hands after buckling her belt.

    ¡°Boys don¡¯t take hints.  You need to be firm with them.  Kick them to the curb. Tell them it is over and to never speak to you again or they¡¯ll keep trying.¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°Amen sister.¡±

    Kerri paused as if she was going to say something to Amee but then shook her head. And pointed at Maria with her thumb.

    ¡°Fine I¡¯ll take it, you two don¡¯t seem so bad, not sure about the stiff though.¡±

    Maria looked between the three on confusion.

    ¡°What is a stiff?¡±

    ¡°Y¡¯know, like a dead body? Cause you¡¯re a vampire.¡±

    ¡°Oh.  I am a stiff.¡±

    Sarah sighed and put her hand on Maria¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°There is more to it than that, you¡¯ve been coming off as sort of a prude, I mean that¡¯s fine I will still be your friend, but you seem stiff¡­ like inflexible too.  So, it kind of applies both ways. I know you¡¯re confused about us living girls with our gushing hormones and we are probably driving you nuts, but you¡¯re welcome to join us.¡±

    She put her hand on Kerri¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°You are both welcome to join us.  I hope we¡¯re all good friends.  Otherwise living together for a year is going to suck bawbag¡¯s.¡±

    Her statement seemed to confuse Amee and Maria but Kerri being British totally caught it and was nodding along.

    ¡°I guess I can come with you, even if it¡¯s some Scottish Haggis offering.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°I just realized I probably will look like a haggis with me stuffed into my dress.¡±

    Sarah rushed off.  Fifteen minutes later the three girls were knocking on her door and Sarah wasn¡¯t coming out.

    ¡°Sarah it can¡¯t be that bad.¡±

    Sarah was sobbing and had ruined her make up already.

    ¡°It is it totally is.¡±

    Amee knocked again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll break down the door if I have too, tell Carly you were threatening to run away.¡±

    There was the noise of Sarah fumbling with the locks, and she opened the door.

    ¡°Are you happy?¡±

    Amee and Kerri winced.  Maria was stroking her crucifix nervously but not really understanding.  The seams of Sarah¡¯s dress near her bust had split when she forced it on, and she did look like a stuffed haggis.

    ¡°I have nothing to wear.  I should have went shopping with my grandma when she asked.¡±

    Kerri walked off.  Amee put her hands on her hips.

    ¡°Yep, someone stuffed that sausage too full.  I¡¯m sure we can figure something out. It¡¯s okay and you look like a racoon.¡±

    Sarah sniffled and jumped on her bed face first.  She heard Kerri call from behind her.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost the same height and I¡¯m a bit fuller than you are but I¡¯m sure it can work with some pins?¡±

    Amee gasped.  Maria was quiet except for the scraping of her stiff lace against her dress.  Sarah rolled over and looked.  Kerri was holding a very nice formal dress.  It was black and would match Sarah¡¯s heels.

    ¡°Where did you get that?¡±

    ¡°My mom made me bring it, I told her I wouldn¡¯t wear it and she told me I would, or I¡¯d be disowned¡­  so, I said promise? She slapped me and stuffed it in my luggage.  No fucking way I¡¯m wearing so why don¡¯t you?  I mean unless you want to borrow some of my other cloths, and we can fight the man together?¡±

    Sarah sheepishly took the dress.  With Amee and Kerri¡¯s help she managed to get herself out of her old dress and she rushed into the bathroom, Amee followed.  When she came out her make-up looked brand new, and she was wearing Kerri¡¯s dress.  There were some pins used but it worked. The group, including Maria made their way over to the events hall.  It was far enough away that the used the subway. It was full of other girls all heading towards it, along with some of the boys. There were also older students who looked far more glamourous than the Grade 9¡¯s.  They didn¡¯t pay much attention to the younger kids and were too busy hanging out in their own clique. A few of the boys in their grade were gawking at Sarah and Amee who had done the most to look good.  The rest of the girls had tried but Amee was an apparent expert.

    ¡°Amee how do you know so much about make-up and hair?¡±

    ¡°I have an older sister who is a priss. Oh, and I downloaded a bunch of how to¡¯s and read them while we were doing that boring ass introduction thing.¡±

    ¡°You can do it that fast?¡±

    ¡°I literally have a quantum computer attached to my brain.  I can multi-task. It does the boring stuff while I do the interesting things.  So, it was listening to the introductions.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t boring it was really interesting to hear about everyone.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re more social than I am, obviously.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  The car stopped and people started filing out and up to the event hall.  The main hall had been decorated and someone had used magic to make candles float in midair creating a soft glow over the room.  The room was full of high school students of all ages. It looked like the entire student body was here.  There were about a thousand kids here, about two hundred and fifty per grade.  There were snacks and non-alcoholic drinks of all descriptions.  It seemed the first part was a meet and greet with the staff and a chance for all the students to mingle together in one spot.  After about forty-five minutes of general mingling Eyre got up on stage and tapped her microphone the room got quieter but there were still people chatting.  Carly whistled into the microphone which got everyone¡¯s attention she shrugged to Eyre who smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Welcome everyone to a new school year at Aurelius Academy.  For those of you who have not met me I¡¯m Headmistress Eyre Aurelius and I¡¯m going to introduce some of the staff, we have quite a few instructors so it would take all night, so I¡¯ll just stick with the changes.  To my left is our newest instructor, Ms. Sheppard.  She is on loan to us from the Military.  She will be teaching science and senior level physics courses.  She will also be assisting with physical training.  Returning to be a guest instructor, are my sister Helen, Dr. Samuels and Archmage Simpson.  You will find information on the rest of our instructors on the Academy intranet site. I wish you all good luck in the year to come. Have a lot of fun tonight, classes have been scheduled to start at 1pm tomorrow.¡±

    There were more than a few cheers at the late start.  Eyre turned the lights down again and the party began in earnest. Kerri was holding a soda of some description.  She looked at the place where Eyre left from.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t seem that impressive.  There are schools named after her all over the world.  Statues.  She¡¯s just some red-headed British chick.¡±

    Sarah looked at her slightly annoyed.

    ¡°She saved me from myself and my family, she saved my life.  I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s done here but she¡¯s great and so is her sister Helen.  Both of them.  If it wasn¡¯t for them, I don¡¯t know where I¡¯d be right now.¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°Saved me from a power mad global corporation and then got me out of perma-protective custody here.¡±

    Maria nodded as well.

    ¡°I do not know my niece very well but she saved me from a stone sarcophagus and got me into the school so I could learn.  She seems well intentioned.¡±

    Kerri looked at the three.

    ¡°So, she¡¯s just the headmistress to the three of you?¡±

    The three girls nodded.

    ¡°She saved the world like six times over.  Saved New York City.  She has gone toe to toe with some of the scariest nastiest supers that have ever lived. I don¡¯t know how she looks normal.  Maybe a little on the small side.  I¡¯m not impressed.¡±

    The three girls all kind of stepped a little bit away from Kerri.

    ¡°What? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m insulting her.¡±

    Kerri¡¯s face fell when she heard Carly¡¯s voice behind her.

    ¡°So, who won the pillow war girls?¡±

    Sarah and Amee pointed at Maria.

    ¡°I thought so.  Never get into a physical contest with a vampire where physical endurance is the deciding factor, you will lose.¡±

    Sarah and Amee giggled.

    ¡°And as for you Ms. Apple.  I have seen the Headmistress in action. She is all she is reported to be and then some.  And she will go to the mats for any of you students.  Including girls whose family are among the most despised among the Mage community so much, so she fielded no less than two hundred complaints that you weren¡¯t sent directly back to Earth-9. Trust me, I know I read them all for her. That should be enough to earn your respect.¡±

    ¡°Why did she do that?¡±

    ¡°She said everyone deserves a chance to be better than their lives have dictated. And I put you with these three wonderful ladies. Because none of them have heard of your family, and I believe that even if they had they would give you a chance anyway. So, don¡¯t squander what Headmistress Aurelius has given you. You don¡¯t get them often.  And don¡¯t disrespect her.  She is more than a superhero; She is a teacher who cares a great deal about each of you students.¡±

    The girls nodded.  Kerri was a bit subdued after the dressing down.  Sarah put her hand on Kerri¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°I have no idea who your family is besides my nan going on a tirade about me being in the same dorm room as you. And I don¡¯t care.  You are your own person and I¡¯ll judge you on our relationship, not what the people say.¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°Yes. Screw them if they can¡¯t see that you¡¯re not your mother. I¡¯m not my mother either.  As if I¡¯d ever run for President.  Who in their right mind would want that job?¡±

    Sarah and Kerri both looked at Amee.

    ¡°Wait, your mom is president of what?¡±

    ¡°The USA, what else would she be president of?¡±

    Sarah smacked her forehead.

    ¡°President Morris.  Of course, there was something about her daughter dying saving a bunch of people in a building. Wait, you¡¯re not dead.  Did she lie?¡±

    ¡°Well technically, no, I was buried under a building.  My body was able to repair itself once I got power.  But as far as she knows I¡¯m dead.  With a power-hungry corporation chasing after me I was afraid my family might get hurt so once I escaped, I went dark.  The headmistress found me and brought me here.  She told me if I could help MANA and Earth Gov with some tech, she would get me a normal life.  She kept her word so far. I do miss my brother and sister and my parents as much as well as much as you know.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Something tells me there is a wee bit more about that story.¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°Late night after curfew ice cream party talk?¡±

    ¡°Triple chocolate fudge level.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Maria and Kerri looked at the pair.

    ¡°What are you talking about ice cream party?¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s just our way of saying I don¡¯t want to talk about it. Yet, or ever.  But if we happen to stay up late and have an ice cream party with triple chocolate fudge ice cream, that we steal from the cafeteria then it might be something to talk about.¡±

    Kerri shrugged.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t get it, what does ice cream have to do with long talks about shit that depresses you.¡±

    Amee looked at Sarah.

    ¡°Are you going to stop being a dick to Dick soon?¡±

    ¡°I figured I¡¯d call him tonight and give him the news.¡±

    ¡°Perfect time for an ice cream pity party.¡±

    ¡°Yes, its gonna need to be triple chocolate fudge for that to feel better.¡±

    Sarah sighed and frowned.

    ¡°You two are just looking for an excuse to stay up and eat ice cream.  I get it but just do it.¡±

    Amee gasped.

    ¡°Bite your tongue Kerri Apple, the ice cream pity party is a sacred right of womanhood on our world.¡±

    ¡°Your world is weird.¡±

    ¡°I never said it was normal.¡±

    Sarah nodded in agreement with Amee.

    ¡°Dirty Dancing?¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°It is definitely a Dirty Dancing situation.¡±

    Carly tapped Amee on the shoulder.

    ¡°That sounds serious, who died?¡±

    ¡°Sarah¡¯s first relationship.¡±

    Carly looked at Sarah.

    ¡°You and Richard broke up?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Not yet, but the girls have convinced me I should, for his sake so he can get on with his life.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I will requisition some, are we talking just chocolate, or chocolate fudge ice cream?¡±

    Amee held up three fingers.

    ¡°Oh, triple chocolate fudge. Okay girls.  My room, zero hundred hours. PJs are mandatory. Bring a spoon. I¡¯ll bring the ice cream and the movie.  There will be tears, so if you¡¯re squeamish it is not for the faint of heart.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to do that Ms. Sheppard.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense, this is your first love we¡¯re burying here.  I told you girls I got your back.  This is a big deal.  Besides I¡¯m the only one here who has actually met him and saw you two kissing behind the basketball game.¡±

    Sarah blushed and smiled.

    ¡°In the meantime, go have fun maybe there is a second love to be found hmm?¡±

    Amee and Sarah giggled.  Kerri rolled her eyes and Maria stroked her crucifix.  She seemed to be gripped with an almost crippling shyness in this massive gathering.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - First loves are always end hard...

    Sarah bit her nail and looked at the phone laying on her bed.  She paced back and forth. Her roommates were watching from her door.  She was in her PJ¡¯s already and had her fluffy bunny slippers on she¡¯d washed her make up off from the party.  She reached for the phone.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You need to do it and it won¡¯t be any easier tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°But he started school today I don¡¯t want to ruin his year.¡±

    ¡°And next week is you don¡¯t want to ruin football season.¡±

    Sarah sighed.

    ¡°I just, I mean I don¡¯t want to break his heart.  Can I just text him, I don¡¯t want to see his face.¡±

    ¡°You do not text break up with someone. That is not cool.¡±

    Kerri nodded.

    ¡°Even I know that one.¡±

    Sarah fixed her hair which was out of its braid now pushing it behind her ears.  She picked up her phone.  She glanced at her room mates.

    ¡°Privacy please.¡±

    Maria left first the other two left more reluctantly with Sarah waving them away she closed the door and closed her eyes and pressed the call button.  He¡¯d be riding the bus home from school.  He picked up after one ring on the IM app they were using.  She smiled at him.

    ¡°Hi Richard.¡±

    ¡°Sarah!  How was your first day?¡±

    ¡°No classes, just getting settled in and a welcome party.¡±

    ¡°Wow.  So how are your roommates?  Stuffy rich girls?¡±

    Sarah shook her head and sat down on her bed.

    ¡°What does the school look like?¡±

    Sarah held the phone to the window.

    ¡°Wow its dark there already?¡±

    ¡°Its 11:30 pm at night silly.¡±

    ¡°Oh ya, time zones.¡±

    Sarah heard Hana before she saw her.

    ¡°Is that my bestie? Oh my god it is my bestie!¡±

    Richard was trying to nudge Hana away.

    ¡°Hi Hana, could you umm give Richard and me some privacy?  I promise I¡¯ll call you Saturday.¡±

    Hana¡¯s eyes went a bit wide; Richard didn¡¯t see it and She made a call me motion with her hand and her ear.

    ¡°So, uh Richard.  I¡­wanted to¡­ I mean. I think we should talk about. I mean, I¡¯m not coming back to Arizona, ever.  I think we need to not talk so much anymore.  I think you¡¯ll be¡­better off.¡±

    She felt her bottom lip beginning to quiver as she spoke the words.  She watched his bright face fall.

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying this isn¡¯t going to work, ever.  I like you a lot, but I am never coming back so it¡¯s time for us both to... We¡¯re fourteen we knew you know¡­I need to go, sorry.¡±

    She felt tears start drip down her cheeks.  He looked like she¡¯d just crushed his soul.  She hung up and buried her face in her pillows and had a nice cry she punched her bed a few times with her fist. Soon afterward she had Amee and Kerri in there nudging her.

    ¡°It¡¯s ice cream time Sarah.¡±

    Sarah was sobbing into her pillow after a few minutes prodding they managed to drag her with them towards Carly¡¯s room.  Maria followed along.  She was wearing a pair of Amee¡¯s PJs so they were pink, definitely not the usual color you¡¯d see on the dead girl.  Amee knocked on the door gently and Carly opened it and dragged the four inside.

    ¡°How did it go?¡±

    Sarah started sobbing again and clutched onto Carly who wrapped her arms around the teenage girl.

    ¡°Ah first loves.  You never forget them and how cringy you were.  One tub of triple fudge ice cream and two more in the freezer.  Let¡¯s make ourselves sick from ice cream and crying. The girls piled onto the stack of pillows Carly had positioned by her couch and she pressed play on the video.¡±

    The three Earth-2 residents knew every line in the movie.  And were all in tears by the end.  Kerri had a quivering lip, but she didn¡¯t cry, and Maria seemed confused by the whole ritual.  She took another spoonful of ice cream; It was night so she gained no sustenance from it, but the taste was good.  She looked at everyone.

    ¡°I do not understand, if the movie makes you sad, why would you watch it when you are already sad?¡±

    Amee put her arm around Maria¡¯s shoulders and was still wiping up tears.

    ¡°We aren¡¯t crying because we¡¯re sad, we¡¯re crying because Baby got to do her dance at the end with Johnny. We¡¯re happy for her.¡±

    Maria took a moment to process that then nodded.

    ¡°So, you are crying because you are happy for her?¡±

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t you want to be Baby now? She got her dance and her guy.¡±

    Sarah wiped up her tears and took another spoon of the second tub of ice cream.  Kerri cleared her throat and took a few minutes to speak.

    ¡°I think the reason your movies are so much better on Earth-2 is that your music doesn¡¯t suck.¡±

    Carly touched her chest.

    ¡°You know I still can¡¯t hear She¡¯s like the wind, hungry eyes or Time of my life without getting a tiny bit teary eyed.¡±

    Amee and Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Okay the ice cream is gone; The humans have cried themselves out and it¡¯s time for bed. I¡¯m going to have to run for twice as long tomorrow to burn off this ice cream.¡±

    Carly hugged each in turn.  Maria was a bit stiff but loosened up mid hug.  Sarah wiped away a few more tears.

    ¡°Thank you, Ms. Sheppard.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, it will get better. Maybe call your mom tomorrow?  Tell her you broke up with Richard? For me?  It should have been her eating triple fudge ice cream and watching Dirty Dancing with you. I¡¯m a poor substitute.¡±

    Sarah sniffled and nodded.  The girls went to their room, Amee didn¡¯t go to hers and brought her pillow to Sarah¡¯s room and plopped down on her bed.

    ¡°Not gonna let you be alone tonight.  If I just went through this, it would be my big sister eating ice cream and watching dirty dancing and then she would hug me to sleep.  In fact, she did.  But¡­ well it¡¯s not important.  I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    Sarah laughed through her still falling tears.  The girls fell asleep when Sarah woke up Amee was still there. She was feeling pretty stiff, and she stretched and yawned. Her movement woke Amee who waved hand in front of her nose.

    ¡°You humans and your BO.¡±

    Sarah giggled.  Amee shifted and sat up.

    ¡°How do you not smell like you danced all night last night?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t sweat, my cybernetics regulate my body temperature. I mean I do if it is really bad.  Otherwise, stuff starts to overheat but that is like not normal situations.  Speaking of which I need food.¡±

    She wandered off with her Pillow and came back to find Sarah still lying in bed staring at the ceiling of her room.  Amee had a fist full of chocolate bars she was devouring one at a time.  She offered one to Sarah who wrinkled her nose.

    ¡°For breakfast, what are we six?¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself, I can¡¯t help it if your body is inefficiently organic.  My body doesn¡¯t care where it gets energy from.  High fructose corn syrup is super fuel for me.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Sarah wrinkled her nose.

    ¡°Your teeth¡­¡±

    ¡°Are constantly being repaired by nanites with the calcium I eat.  I am literally always being repaired. Its why I¡¯m always eating.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t you get¡­umm well chunky?¡±

    Amee laughed and waved her hand that was still full of chocolate bars.

    ¡°Never.  My body only keeps enough fat to make me look real. Energy is never wasted it goes into a battery pack.  I am one hundred percent efficient mass to energy conversion. Anything my body doesn¡¯t process as energy it uses to repair my organic parts.¡±

    Sarah groaned.

    ¡°Great my new best friend will always be skinnier than me.¡±

    ¡°Well look at the bright side.  I can lure them in for your chunky behind.¡±

    Sarah threw a pillow at Amee who deflected it effortlessly and started eating another chocolate bar.  Sarah rubbed her eyes and got up.  She picked up her pillow and threw it on her bed and she took her ADHD med.

    ¡°What are those for?¡±

    ¡°ADHD if you must know you noisy ninny.¡±

    ¡°Oh, and I thought you were just airheaded because you were blonde.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I saw pictures of you before you ¡®died¡¯ you¡¯re as blonde as I am.¡±

    ¡°Nope, not anymore, once these stupid things infected me my eyes went purple and my hair went black.¡±

    She shrugged.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what they call artificial intelligence?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the dad jokes.¡±

    Sarah shook her head and grabbed her water bottle and a set of running clothes.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m going for a run some of us actually have to work at staying fit for hockey and football season and a workout.  Enjoy your chocolate.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    Amee waved as Sarah walked into their shared bathroom and wandered into her own room. Sarah pulled on her runners.  She synced the wireless ear buds to her holo-tablet which Amee had helpfully linked to her phone and access to all her music and went outside and did some stretches and started her jog.  She was already in love with her holo-tablet.  She could see her heart rate, calories burned and a bunch of other things it was giving her a HUD in front of her eyes.  It was even giving her the best path for how long of a run she wanted. It even provided the best duration for sprints telling her when she should go faster and slow down.  She had just finished her last sprint which had left her in front of the athletic center. She was walking back and forth letting her breathing get under control and she almost ran into Misha.  She jumped a bit; She hadn¡¯t expected anyone out after the late party last night. He laughed and started speaking to her in Russian.

    ¡°You are like a mouse. You jump at everything.¡±

    Sarah nodded and took another drink of her water and kept pacing.

    ¡°Are you stalking me?¡±

    ¡°No, just going for my work out, are you stalking me?¡±

    ¡°No Sir.¡±

    He laughed.  Sarah¡¯s breath had settled, and her heart rate leveled out.  She started towards the Athletics Center entrance.  Misha jumped ahead of her and open the door.

    ¡°Do you need a spotter?¡±

    ¡°I guess I could use one.  I like free weights better.¡±

    ¡°I can help you out until my spotter gets here.¡±

    Sarah nodded and the pair walked towards the work out room.  They were discussing Sarah¡¯s workout regimen; He was giving her some smaller free weight ideas.  They passed Carly. Who quirked an eyebrow at Sarah speaking Russian like a native.  Misha waved to her. Still speaking Russian.

    ¡°Carly, I promised to spot the little mouse for fifteen minutes on free weights do you mind waiting.¡±

    Carly shook her head and then jointed the pair.  Sarah did her reps.  Carly and Misha spotted her and were speaking in Arabic.

    ¡°So, what are you up to Misha?¡±

    ¡°Our governments make no secret they try to recruit supers here.  Where were you last night, why did you cancel last minute?¡±

    ¡°Sarah broke up with her first boyfriend I was helping her mourn.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°I will forgive you.  But you better make it up to me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a teddy bear.¡±

    Sarah gagged. She spoke in Arabic without thinking.

    ¡°Eew. Adults flirting is so gross.¡±

    Both Misha and Carly looked down at Sarah.

    ¡°You understand Arabic Sarah?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you were speaking in but pick something I don¡¯t understand next time.¡±

    Sarah shuddered.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go put earbuds in and lift free weights.¡±

    Sarah did just that and started lifting some of the smaller weights the two looked after her then at each other.  They spoke in Russian.  Misha touched her arm.

    ¡°Did you know she spoke so many languages?¡±

    Carly shook her head.

    ¡°As far as I knew Gaelic and English, what is that now?  Russian, Arabic?¡±

    ¡°Do you know where she learned them?¡±

    ¡°No idea, how many languages do you know?¡±

    ¡°English, Russian, Arabic.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°You know I¡¯m new here is there any super power for languages?¡±

    ¡°There is magic.¡±

    ¡°Well, she is supposedly some sort of mage.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she is a 3<sup>rd</sup> Generation Archmage, a Grey, and she has superpowers, every government in the world is going to want her living in their country.  She is a superstar. And if she is using magic without training, she is worth a bigger bonus.¡±

    Carly shook her head.  Misha shrugged.

    ¡°What? She¡¯ll live like a Queen she will want for nothing.¡±

    ¡°Can she play hockey for the Olympic team?¡±

    ¡°If she wants and qualifies, Russia will give her anything she wants.¡±

    ¡°How hot is the competition for her?¡±

    ¡°PL8 who is also a mage with high rating who doesn¡¯t have any real ties to Earth-Prime. She is a once in a generation first round draft pick if this was an American sport.  The Babe Ruth of supers.¡±

    ¡°Hearing a Russian say Babe Ruth is disturbing somehow.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it beautiful.  We all compete.  I am just starting early.¡±

    ¡°Did you know she was going to be here?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she still hasn¡¯t removed her monitor.¡±

    Carly frowned.

    ¡°You were stalking her.¡±

    She hit Misha in the gut, and he coughed.  He shrugged.

    ¡°I will use whatever advantage I can.  Her parents are living in America, that gives them a head start we tried to invite them to Russia, but they said no.  Offered them jobs and everything.¡±

    ¡°Well Misha, because I like you, I¡¯ll let you in on a secret.  Unless something changes, that girl is going to want to be as far away from her parents as possible.¡±

    ¡°Why, she seems like a good girl?¡±

    ¡°Because they dosed her with puberty blockers and psychoactive medications without her knowledge.  She has been betrayed by the people she trusted most.  So, you want a chance? Be an ally, be honest with your intentions and do not lie to her.  And God damn that child, I told to have that limiter removed.¡±

    ¡°What kind of monsters do that to a child?¡±

    ¡°The kind that wanted her to not get taken away.  It¡¯s like anything, best of intentions worst of outcomes.¡±

    He nodded and crossed his arms.

    ¡°Why did you tell me this?  It wasn¡¯t in her dossier.¡±

    ¡°Because that girl needs as many people in her corner as possible.  Look at it this way even if she doesn¡¯t move to Russia when she finishes school, you guys might get a strong ally out of her if you need help.¡±

    Misha nodded and looked at Sarah doing her workout.

    ¡°For you I will look out for her.¡±

    Carly rolled her eyes and punched him again.

    ¡°Liar.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°Drink at place tonight?¡±

    ¡°If by drink you mean what we did before the kids got here, I¡¯m in.¡±

    Carly laid on the bench and the pair started their work outs.

    *****

    Carly knocked on the door to Eyre¡¯s office. She heard Eyre shuffling papers.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    ¡°Carly, how are things going?  Have a seat.¡±

    Carly closed the door to the office.

    ¡°Things are good, trained with Misha this morning, Russians think she is a PL8, but know she is a mage.  Something else came up I¡¯m worried about, well a couple of somethings.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good they usually have the best intel.  Do you feel guilty spying on him?¡±

    ¡°Hell no, he¡¯s spying on me too.  I fed him enough info he¡¯ll be Sarah¡¯s personal bodyguard at this rate.  I mean I¡¯m not going to marry him or anything, the sex is great but we¡¯re using each other. It¡¯s how this game works.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°So, what is concerning you?¡±

    ¡°First, she hasn¡¯t taken off her ankle monitor-limiter.  It also isn¡¯t the one you gave her.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she fried four of them before her grandparents got fed up with our cheap hardware and bought her some fancy PL20+ one.¡±

    ¡°Is it actually any better than yours?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s the same thing it¡¯s just pink.  Higher numbers make kids look stronger than they are so the companies charge a premium.  But it is concerning that she is refusing to remove it.

    ¡°She said she forgot, but if I see it on tonight, I¡¯ll know it¡¯s because she¡¯s actively avoiding it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, noted, I¡¯ll assign someone to remove it.  What is the other thing?¡±

    ¡°She is speaking fluent Russian and fluent Arabic, Misha even told me she can read Russian, in their alphabet.¡±

    ¡°Is she using magic?¡±

    ¡°You tell me, doesn¡¯t she need training?¡±

    Eyre closed the folder she was working on.

    ¡°That is a rather disturbing new development.¡±

    ¡°She is either psychic and pulling the languages out of people¡¯s heads, she is using magic untrained, or she is something different than we¡¯ve ever seen before.¡±

    ¡°The only person I¡¯ve ever seen use magic without training is my mother. She was a PL19M.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?  I just don¡¯t understand how you¡¯d tell.¡±

    ¡°My mother and I stopped a vampire from destroying London in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. I saw her make a spell up on the fly to drain the energy from the storm the vampire was summoning.  She taught it to me while she was coming up with it.  I have a copy of every single Atlantean spell on my tablet and it doesn¡¯t exist anywhere.¡±

    Eyre rubbed the bridge of nose with her index finger and thumb.  Carly looked at the desk.

    ¡°What is the worst-case scenario?¡±

    ¡°Either of the above means I have underestimated how strong she is by a factor of one hundred.  I want her tested, linguistics, combat, physical ability.  I need it done in a way that will not alert the different government interests we have on campus.  Get Helen, take some senior students use the old school facility. Schedule it for tomorrow morning.  Tell her it is a test everyone has to go through but since she wasn¡¯t born on Earth-Prime she never had it. It¡¯s sort of a half-truth.  Just tell her we¡¯re doing it away from the main campus because we don¡¯t want to embarrass her because most kids do it when they¡¯re ten.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure lying to her is the best choice, she trusts us, and if she finds out then who will she have to trust after her parents betrayed her and we betrayed her?  Cause Misha has been very honest about his intentions since the beginning we cannot say the same.¡±

    ¡°Noted.  Now do as I ask, please.¡±

    Carly frowned and stood up.

    ¡°Fine. I will go set it up.¡±

    ¡°Carly, the less she knows about herself, the better off she is for now, until she¡¯s older and more in control.  If she finds out she is as powerful as she is who knows what she will start thinking?¡±

    ¡°You are taking away our ability to find out.¡±

    Eyre wrote something on her notepad then ripped the paper off.  Carly looked at it.

    ¡°What the hell is this? Just looks like a bunch of dots and lines.¡±

    ¡°Just show it to Sarah if she understands what it says then we¡¯re in deeper than I thought.¡±

    ¡°What does it say?¡±

    ¡°Good afternoon, Sarah.¡±

    ¡°What language is this?¡±

    ¡°Is Atlantean.  Only two people alive can read it, I am one, Maria is the other.¡±

    ¡°It means she¡¯s not using telepathy to read people¡¯s minds.¡±

    Eyre opened her draw and gave her a ruby necklace.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°If it glows someone is using magic in your vicinity. If it doesn¡¯t glow and she reads that paper, then I have no idea what we are dealing with.  Let¡¯s hope it glows.¡±

 Earth 3 - 2026 - The Blue Eyed Boy

    Misha offered Sarah her limiter.  Sarah took it and looked at the floor refusing to meet his gaze or look at Carly¡¯s disappointed face.

    ¡°I forgot.¡±

    ¡°I told you to get it removed yesterday, Sarah. You should not be wearing this here.  It¡¯s for the outside world.  These aren¡¯t allowed here.  It is a crutch that you do not need.¡±

    Sarah nodded still looking at the old rug that covered Carly¡¯s hard wooden floor.

    ¡°Now go catch up to your class. It¡¯s time for your introductory powers class.¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    Sarah stood up and pulled on her uniform shoes before heading down to the subway.  She hiked her backpack up on her back while she paced back and forth staring at her ankle which was now bereft of the only thing that made her sure she wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone else. She tugged at the hem of the black skirt that was the bottom half of her uniform.  The top was a blouse with a tie and an optional sweater for cooler weather.  It was pretty warm, so she was without of the sweater.  She had longed for her body to start to develop and now with the estrogen she was catching up rapidly and it was starting to embarrass her because boys were looking at them instead of her face. She skipped a few times in her boredom. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a blond boy her age watching her. He was wearing the same uniform save it was in the boys style.  He had his hands in his pockets. He was ridiculously cute.  She blushed. He spoke in English but had the strangest accent it was almost Italian, but it was different enough to be distinct.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t stop on my account. Looked like you were having fun.¡±

    Sarah blushed and looked around.  He was talking to her they were the only two here. His blue eyes were focused on her silver eyes.  He smiled.  That smile melted her heart.  Like something out of a romance novel. Her heart literally skipped a few beats. She felt like she¡¯d seen him before. She couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, it had to have been at the party.

    ¡°Quiet type hmm?  That is okay I can talk enough for the both of us if I need too. My name is Lucius.  And yours is?¡±

    Sarah was trying to find her voice it took her a few tries and she could feel her ears burning.

    ¡°Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Sarah.  Funny I was picturing something with an E.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s stomach was turning in knots as he got closer.  He was this magnet pulling her towards him.  She lost all coordination and almost fell, and he caught her arm.  His touch was electric on her skin. He must have felt it to because his hand lingered for longer than it needed to help her catch her balance.  She felt her breathing quicken.  Richard and she had full on made out and she was way more affected by this boy¡¯s one touch then the entire movie with Richard. She put her hand on one of the subways supports.  She pushed her hair behind her ears.  She suddenly felt like she looked inadequate for this meeting.  The subway whooshed into the station with a rush of air that almost lifted Sarah¡¯s skirt.

    She was forced to hold it down.  When she looked up the boy was halfway across the floor, he tipped a non-existent hat to her.  The doors of the car opened which drew Sarah¡¯s attention when she looked back to where the boy had been, he was nowhere to be found. She was feeling lightheaded like all her blood had rushed anywhere else but her head.  When she sat down, she started to feel flush again.  She adjusted her skirt and noticed she was on a train car full of one of the more senior classes of boys. Grade tens if she had to guess.   They didn¡¯t pay her any mind and she was thankful she was checking her skirt.  She thought she might have blacked out or something and peed herself, but her skirt was dry and so where her shoes.  Her underwear were very uncomfortable and she wasn¡¯t sure why they were so damp. It wasn¡¯t that hot in the station or the car itself. She fanned herself with her hand.  It stopped at the Grade 9 building, and she got off and walked up the stairs.  She saw Maria, Amee and Kerri heading into class she rushed to catch up and managed to get a seat next to Amee.

    ¡°You look¡­like you enjoyed yourself.¡±

    Sarah slide into her chair.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You just have this smile.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see, I need to stay because Misha is coming to take off my limiter is code for what exactly?¡±

    ¡°Eew he¡¯s like thirty.¡±

    ¡°Which is why I¡¯m concerned.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Sheppard was there.  They took off my limiter.¡±

    Sarah put her hand in her pocket and showed her the pink ankle band that had lettering declaring it a Supermax PL20+ limiter.

    ¡°Oh, you seriously look like you had a good time.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t fun or anything.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you look like someone just took you for a whirlwind make out session?¡±

    ¡°There was a boy at our station, he looked like he was from our year.  I almost fell down he caught my wrist.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you need a boyfriend, a boy catching your wrist is enough for that.¡±

    Sarah waved her hand dismissively.

    ¡°You¡¯re being weird Amee.¡±

    ¡°Did you get a name for this boy?¡±

    ¡°Luc¡­ something?¡±

    ¡°And hmm what did he look like?¡±

    Sarah got a far-off look in her eyes.

    ¡°If the feeling you get from eating good dark chocolate could be translated into a boy it would be him.¡±

    Amee gave a quiet whistle.

    ¡°I think someone has a crush.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a crush he is just really cute.  I think I saw him at the party.¡±

    ¡°You probably did but didn¡¯t remember because you were too worried about breaking up with Richard.  Told you it was a good idea though; Look not even twenty-four hours and you found a boy.¡±

    Sarah was about to answer when their instructor who was none other than Eyre cleared her throat.  The class got instantly quiet.

    ¡°Welcome to Introduction to Powers.  I know it¡¯s all boring and review but still it is important to make sure everyone is starting at the same level when we start going from theory to hard math.  Should be an easy class for most of you.  Our first lesson is the fundamental building blocks of Reality and how people with magic and powers shape and channel them.¡±

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    She brought up her holo-tablet and swept it to the 80inch LED screen at the front of the class.

    ¡°Reality as we understand it is comprised of four different types of energy.  Life, Chaos, Death and Order.  All powers, all magic is some combination of these energies.  Ice magic or power for that matter is the ultimate expression of order.  Pulling heat from gaseous, or liquid matter condenses it into a solid lattice of atoms. Heat is the ultimate expression of Chaos.  It turns solid matter into a chaotic mess of atoms in gaseous form eventually.  All powers, and all magic can be traced back to these fundamental energies of creation.¡±

    Eyre glanced around, then continued.

    ¡°These energies don¡¯t exist in isolation they mix and swirl throughout reality.  They were never meant to exist in isolation.  As much as you expect Life and Death to be in opposition they are not, and they also mix.  If you are a mage and you focus on one type of energy over all others and forsake them, they will start tainting your outlook, tainting your physical form.  For death mages they take on the aspects of death.  For Chaos mages they find it hard to keep their minds together.  Their reality begins to shatter.  Life mages find themselves obsessed with trying to procreate. Order mages start to find themselves locked into rigid patterns.  This does not seem to affect powered individuals who channel a specific energy type.¡±

    ¡°The first step in controlling your power is understanding where it comes from.  For mages you need to understand balance is required.  For other individuals you need to understand the force that powers you, so you know how to work with it.¡±

    She looked around the classroom.  Her eyes focused on Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah step forward.¡±

    Sarah looked around, felt her ears burning but did as she was asked.  Eyre put a flowerpot down in front of Sarah it had a seedling in it, and it was sprouting, and the first leaves were showing.

    ¡°Sarah what is your power?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a life manipulator and TK.¡±

    ¡°What PL?¡±

    ¡°I am an eight.¡±

    ¡°Then making this plant grow should be no problem for you right?¡±

    Sarah shrugged a bit.

    ¡°Sarah you are a life manipulator.  You are connected to all life, and it is connected to you.  Reach your hand out towards the plant and feel for it with your other sense the one that connects you to it.¡±

    Sarah closed her eyes and did as she was told.  She could feel the seedling.  She focused on making it grow she felt her hands burning like there was acid in her veins. She screamed as green veins creeped their way through her hands and the seedling burst into full bloom it was a rose bush. Sarah was starting to panic the veins weren¡¯t going away and the desks in the room started to shake now the veins became turquoise as they mixed together. Eyre touched Sarah¡¯s shoulder.  There were gasps from the class as the rose bush burst out of the soil then there squeels and screams as the room started to shake.

    ¡°Sarah, let go of the energy, let it go.¡±

    Sarah felt like she was grabbing two live wires at once and her hands were clenched tight.  She started taking deep breaths like her father had taught her.  Her mind starting to think what¡¯s next?  The answers came readily, breath, release the hold on the wires.  She did so mentally letting go and the veins in her hands subsided.  She saw the turquoise glow in her eyes dim and vanish in her reflection in the mirror in the back of the room.

    ¡°Good Job Sarah, Good job.  Just work on not panicking so much.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Headmistress I felt like I was grabbing on two high voltage lines and my hands just wouldn¡¯t let go.¡±

    ¡°That is completely normal for someone with more than one power.  It¡¯s hard to pull them apart and when the energy builds but nothing happens it starts to go wild.  It will take practice but here.¡±

    Eyre offered Sarah the fully grown black rose bush.  Sarah picked up the flowerpot which she now realized was oversized for a good reason.  She put it at the back of the classroom. And took her seat.

    ¡°Did you see how she reached out and grabbed the energy she needed to power her life manipulation?  Sarah has a more complicated situation then most of you because has access to both Life and Order powers at once and they are separate.  Any volunteers to demonstrate a Chaos power?¡±

    Sarah looked at her hands inspecting them for any permanent markings from the veins that had burned into them, but they seemed fine.  Sarah was a bit perturbed to notice that there was no pain or veins, or glowing eyes for the girl who was demonstrating her ability to heat up objects.  Maria was brought up to demonstrate death as she already knew some magic and no one in the class had a death-based power.  She had a dead mouse and a fern.  The blinds were pulled down and the room was dark, and Maria started chanting.  Sarah blinked as she understood every word perfectly.  Even knew it was a zombification spell.  She scratched her head.  Maria¡¯s hands started glowing with a crackling purple energy and she touched both the plant and the mouse.  The fern turned to dust and the mouse hopped up and started nibbling at Maria¡¯s finger gently Maria stroked the molted dead fur on its head. There were more than a few gasps in the room. Maria picked up the mouse and it ran up her shoulder and into her hair and then back to her shoulder.  It sat there mimicking a live mouse¡¯s tendency to clean its front paws though his were quite skeletal.

    ¡°You may keep your mouse, Maria.¡±

    Maria nodded and went back to her seat.  The mouse ran down her arm and jumped across the desks to Sarah who was staring at her first true zombie in absolute terror. It rolled over and started rubbing against her arm.  Sarah touched it and green veins flared up in her hand and her eyes flashed a brilliant emerald green and the mouse twitched and shivered regrowing lost muscle then skin then fur.  The whole room gasped.  Sarah didn¡¯t notice anything else she was being dragged in with the life energy she kept channeling it into the mouse her hand was burning and almost fully green now.  The mouse gasped as it took its first breath and ran up Sarah¡¯s arm and nestled itself in her hair like it had done with Maria.  Sarah¡¯s hand slowly faded to is normal color. Everyone was staring at her in awe.  One of the girls in the class shook her head.

    ¡°Headmistress?  What does this mean?  No one can bring the dead back to life.  No one, not even PL20s.¡±

    Eyre snapped her fingers loudly and everyone looked at her. She let her mental control extend to the whole classroom weaving herself into all their minds.

    ¡°The undead mouse ran off, we have no idea where, but I said it is harmless and would not cause any trouble.  You did not see Sarah raise it from the dead.¡±

    She kept them mesmerized as she went and scooped the resistant mouse out of Sarah¡¯s hair. She looked at it.

    ¡°You are getting some tests done.¡±

    She emptied her jar of candies into her desk drawer and put the mouse in it and put it beside her desk she looked at it and it looked back at her.

    ¡°Sleep little one.¡±

    The mouse curled up and fell into a fitful sleep.  She looked at the class and snapped her fingers.

    ¡°Wake.¡±

    The class of girls went wild jump onto their chairs and squealing.

    ¡°Where is it?  Where is it?¡±

    Eyre stood up and snapped her fingers again.

    ¡°Girls, it¡¯s just a zombie mouse, harmless.  Sit down like proper young ladies.¡±

    Sarah rubbed her eyes and couldn¡¯t figure out why she was suddenly so tired she couldn¡¯t keep them open she ended up collapsing into her arms.  Eyre sighed.  She should have known the act of bring back the dead would exhaust the girl.  Amee tried shaking Sarah, but she was dead to the world.

    ¡°It is okay Amee, she is only tired from channeling as much energy as she did.  She¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll make sure she gets back to her room.  It was just a bit much for her. Go to your next class ladies.¡±

    The classroom emptied quickly, and Eyre sat at her desk looking at Sarah.  The girl was becoming a very vexing and very dangerous mystery.  Carly walked in.

    ¡°I saw what happened.  She just brought back the dead.  That is Jesus shit.¡±

    ¡°I know did anyone else see?¡±

    ¡°No, I kept the gawkers away.  What does it mean?¡±

    ¡°She channeled pure life energy into it.  No spell, no power.  Same thing she did with the plant.  Look at it, it looks more alive than it should, its leaves are too green.  Its branches too thick.  It means she is tapping directly into the power of creation and she¡¯s reaching in and pulling in what she needs like you fill a glass with water. She filled the mouse with life energy. One of two things have happened she put his little mouse soul in his little mouse body permanently or she¡¯s just juiced it with life energy and it will wear off eventually and it will go back to its previous state, if is the later we¡¯re good it¡¯s a parlor trick mages do it all the time with animals and plants, if it¡¯s the former we are into a whole new territory.  She has access to death too.¡±

    Eyre put the jar on the desk.

    ¡°Take this to Pietro, tell him that I need a full blood work up, full diagnostic on it.  Monitor it for signs of sudden¡­death?¡±

    Carly picked up the jar.

    ¡°You need to tell her something.  This is getting crazy.  Her power is increasing exponentially and it¡¯s not slowing down.¡±

    Eyre waved Carly away.

    ¡°Go, and no, we will tell no one this, even my sister.¡±

    ¡°Why?  You¡¯re playing with fire.  You said if you don¡¯t follow the laws, then why should anyone follow them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but we¡¯ve never seen abilities like this before.  We have but not¡­pure raw energy of creation.  There is always a medium, a spell, a gene that creates physical changes that allows the energy to collect and be used.  She is just pulling it out the ether.¡±

    ¡°Maybe she just has a battery.  It looks like she emptied it.¡±

    ¡°Just get the mouse to Pietro and we¡¯ll see how the testing goes tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre rolled her eyes at the sarcasm in Carly¡¯s voice.  She picked up her phone and called Misha.

    ¡°Misha, it¡¯s the headmistress, one of the students used a bit too much energy channeling their power I was hoping you could make sure they got back to the room safely.  She is in the introduction to powers classroom in the Grade 9 building.¡±

    Eyre hung up the phone and looked at Sarah and the black rose bush with a sigh.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Sir Gallant, Protector of the Princess of the Tower of the Black Rose

    In the personal lab of Dr. Pietro Santoclair, or Stclair as the majority of English speakers called him there were all manner of critter collected from across the multiverse. The majority however were from Earth-3. One critter had only been there for a short time, and it stood out because of its apparently normalcy a small brown field mouse its nose twitching as it sniffed the air. It cowered near the back of the cage it found itself in. To say the mouse was confused would be an understatement it was dead then it was pulled back to its body from the field it was running in it hadn¡¯t known hunger just that it was back because one of the big ones demanded it. But it wasn¡¯t like before. It couldn¡¯t smell the world nor was it hungry or scared it just was there. Then it smelled the big one that reminded it of the field it had been running in before it was yanked back to its husk of a body. It ran to her. Surely that big one could send it back. But it had not, it had hurt it but then it could feel its heart beating again. The big one felt like home. Then it woke up here in this cold place with strange smells. He had been hurt again by a big one. Then put in this cage. His nose twitched as a hand approached the cage and went through the metal grid that kept it trapped. He jumped to the side when the hand dropped a dead one of its brothers beside it. Then scooped it and up and through the metal bars. This also felt like the field. The big one held him up in his hand and like the big one that had glowed green this one could speak to him, and he understood. His nose twitched as he sniffed the big one. This big one was different the fur was the same color but the shorter. The eyes were different too.

    ¡°Shh little mouse. I know who you¡¯re looking for. She¡¯ll take care of you. She is the patron saint of lost souls.¡±

    This one stroked his fur with a scritch, and his nose twitched it ran up the sleeve of the big ones jacket and onto his shoulder and whispered into its ear.

    ¡°Field?¡±

    The big one¡¯s face changed it went from showing teeth to not showing teeth. His whiskers twitched.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry little one, only the fields here for you now. I know I miss it too. But she will take care of you. Stick with her and she will take you to the fields again one day. Oh, you have such a life ahead of you now. You¡¯re going to live long past your normal age. If you protect her, she will protect you. That¡¯s how it works little mouse.¡±

    He was picked up in the hand and it was strange, but walls seemed to hold no meaning for this big one. It seemed to go where it pleased. It held him up in its hand. Meeting his gaze. It looked around a few times then whispered again.

    ¡°Here is where you get off little one. Remember look after her and she will look after you. She has a lot of love to give. That is her real power.¡±

    He was enclosed in the big one¡¯s hand again it moved, and it opened again. His nose twitched and he smelled the big one, the one with the long fur that he could hide in the one that felt like the field. He lept down and landed on the windowsill and then onto the big one. He sniffed and rubbed against her fur. It felt like he was in the field again. Safe and free. He could tell the big one was troubled it shifted and moved in its sleep he lept to her shelf and his nose twitched. The rose bush in her room thickened and crawled up her wall like ivy. Forming a protective wall of thorns on one side of her room. He twitched and he jumped down nibbling on the big one¡¯s ear gently like he would one of his own whispering.

    ¡°Safe. Here. Safe.¡±

    *****

    Sarah sat up straight suddenly with a loud scream she was covered in sweat. She had been in the green house again with the man. He had touched her. Her hands burned with the green veins which were slowly subsiding, and she looked behind her and saw that her Black Rose bush had turned into a black rose vine and was covering one of her walls. She caught movement on the bookshelf that formed the headboard of her bed and she jumped. It was a mouse of all things. It sat there staring at her with a twitching nose. She quirked her head to the side, and it did the same thing.

    ¡°You¡¯re not scared little one?¡±

    Its nose twitched she smiled and reached out her hand. It hesitated but then jumped on and up her arm and buried itself in her hair which tickled her neck and made her giggle. The half-remembered dream completely vanished from her mind, and she laughed as the mouse frolicked in her hair and down her arm and onto her leg and curled up there.

    ¡°You are a strange wee thing. I wonder what your name is. I¡¯m Sarah. Should we give you a name, I wonder are you a boy or a girl, does it even matter? We could call you Mousie. Or Micky or Minnie. Or how about Sir Gallant, because you are so brave. I wish I had some food for you little one. I will make sure to get you some from the caf tonight. Yes, I Lady Sarah MacCloud, Princess of the Tower of the Black Rose, dub you Sir Gallant the brave.¡±

    The mouse as if understanding her intent and words stood up on its hind legs and she was able to tap his shoulders as it were then his head. The mouse ran around in circles excitedly then jumped off her and started pulling one of her discarded pieces of clothing. Sarah was anything but tidy. It shoved them into the corner of her bookcase and started building itself a bed of sorts.

    ¡°I think I would have chosen anything but a pair of my dirty underwear but hey Sir Gallant you be you.¡±

    She touched his head gently scratching him with a single finger. He ran in circles a few times before snuggling into the bunch of fabric and curling up. Sarah stood up and looked at the vine of black roses it was very pretty, but she wished it wasn¡¯t so full of thorns and the vine rippled and it became thornless she jumped back her hands burned again. She looked at them as the veins retreated. It slowly dawned on her that twice in the space of ten minutes she had had used her powers where it was forbidden. She paced back and forth then went to find Ms. Sheppard she would have to admit it. She got half her clean clothes packed when she realized she should go see Ms. Sheppard first. They might not let her take her things. She knocked on her door biting on her thumb nail the whole time. No answer. She paced back and forth nervously for what seemed like an eternity she was panicking. Sarah was sure this was it. She was done at the Academy. She was too dangerous.

    By the time Carly came back to her rooms after the class she was teaching Sarah had worked herself up into a sobbing panic attack and she was completely inconsolable by Carly¡¯s door. It took several minutes for Carly to make any sense of Sarah¡¯s sobbing confession. From what Carly could translate, Sarah knew they would be disappointed in her, she was ready to go to Supermax Earth-18 and that she was ready to put her limiter back on, or just be executed. None of the conclusions Sarah seemed to reach was a happy ending. Carly noticed Sarah had chewed her nails so much her fingers were bleeding slightly. She frowned. Sarah was so messed up from the drugs her parents had her on that even the littlest set back could send her into a spiral. Carly looked at the girl who was going from one thing to the other making no sense to anyone but herself she was as amazed as she was concerned at the random connections this child made. Sarah eventually talked herself out and was back to breathing rapidly and pacing instead of curling up in a ball. Carly took her arm and led her to her room.

    She looked up at the wall of black roses that had turned into a vine. She had never seen a plant so lush. Well, she had, but it was through the barrier here. The thing that surprised her most was there was not a thorn on it at all. She touched the smooth branches of the bush that had completely jumped to a vine. She was no expert on plants but she knew some roses were vines and some weren¡¯t, and this wasn¡¯t one but there it was its white fibers that it hadn¡¯t had before when she saw it were now dug into the wall. Sarah was full on explaining herself again. The train of thought made Carly dizzy. She was starting to figure out just how profound the effect Sarah¡¯s ADHD had on the way her brain worked. She¡¯d heard of it. She¡¯d always figured it was a made-up disease but witnessing it full blown in a girl who was usually so together because of her meds and therapy made her realize that it was no joke. She took Sarah¡¯s shoulders and held them tightly.

    ¡°Sarah! Stop!¡±

    Sarah blinked at her stopping mid explanation. She looked like she was just slapped out of a deep sleep. She remembered the video she had been shown of Sarah with her father. She assumed it was some form of behavioral therapy they had learned so she decided to try it since her usual yell at them till they make sense plan wasn¡¯t working. Teaching children was a lot more nuanced than she had assumed and she decided she would start reading up on that and teaching children with ADHD.

    ¡°Sarah, what¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°Breath.¡±

    ¡°So, breath, Sarah just breath. That is all you need to do right now is focus on your breathing. In, out, in, out.¡±

    She watched as Sarah started to breath slowly and calmly.

    ¡°Good, now Sarah what is next?¡±

    ¡°I get sent to prison.¡±

    ¡°No Sarah, that is not what is next, keep breathing. Tell me exactly what happened. Keep breathing like you are. Tell me one step at a time. What do you remember?¡±

    ¡°I was in class. Maria animated a dead mouse. I¡­ remember my hand glowing green. I had a nightmare a man¡­ he was trying to¡­ trying too.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, breath. Just breath. The man what did he do?¡±

    ¡°He chased me around a green house. He grabbed me.¡±

    ¡°Good, and then what happened.¡±

    ¡°I wanted him to stop, and the plants started moving.¡±

    ¡°Okay and then, what happened?¡±

    ¡°Another man whispered in my ear that I was safe, he was here, and I was safe. And I woke up. The roses were like this.¡±

    She had tears dripping down her cheeks again.

    ¡°Then I wished they didn¡¯t have thorns and my hand got all green veiny like it did in class, and they didn¡¯t have thorns. And there was a mouse. Did I dream him? Sir Gallant. Because he was brave.¡±

    The mouse heard the name the big one of the fields had given him and he poked his head out and saw another big one and he darted back into the den he had made. Carly¡¯s eyes went wide. It was the very same mouse she had dropped off at the lab earlier.

    ¡°Do you know where it came from? The mouse?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t I woke up and he was by my ear. Do you think he woke me up?¡±

    ¡°On this world full of magic bullshit, I would not be surprised if animals could talk Sarah. Are you okay now?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Sarah¡¯s tears started flowing again.

    ¡°What is going to happen to me Ms. Sheppard?¡±

    Carly wrapped her arm around Sarah¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Well, I am wondering how Headmistress Aurelius didn¡¯t realize the plant hadn¡¯t stopped growing and changing when she sent it here with you. I mean, she should have realized shouldn¡¯t she have? Maybe she did?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It was me I did this while I was sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but does anyone but you and I need to know that?¡±

    ¡°It seems wrong to lie, it will happen again I have had that dream before.¡±

    ¡°I think once you know the truth of that dream it will cease being so traumatizing after you face the reality of it. You have had your memories altered to hide something from you by your parents and the Headmistress. She told me I couldn¡¯t tell you but I¡¯m starting to think she doesn¡¯t know what is best for you. So, I¡¯m going to show you after supper. And by the way pets aren¡¯t allowed in here, I¡¯ll make an exception for Sir Gallant since he is a knight of exceptional valor, but you need to keep it quiet. Don¡¯t want the Headmistress finding out, okay? If she can keep secrets from you then we can keep secrets from her. Fair is fair.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Make sure you water the vine and that it gets lots of sun I don¡¯t want this rotting in here.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to make me cut it down?¡±

    ¡°And destroy something so beautiful? No. But you best take care of it. Same with the mouse he seems to be attached to you in some fashion you make sure he eats and has water. I know you can be forgetful if you don¡¯t take your meds, but now there is another living creature depending on you, so do not forget to take your meds.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Get yourself cleaned up and go to the store and get him something better than a dirty pair of underwear for a nest hmm? Oh, and because I¡¯m technically your mother for the next ten months. Clean up your room. Cloths should be in a dirty cloth¡¯s bin or your drawers, not all over. And that is not how you make a bed. I¡¯m checking on Thursday morning after you go to classes better be done by then. And I¡¯ll check your roommates to and I will tell them any infractions are your fault because you are being a slob. You understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Oh, and tomorrow morning, you are out of classes Headmistress wants you to undergo a full power test. She said its long past due. Meet me on front steps 0800 sharp. Your workout clothes from the morning are fine you¡¯re going to sweat anyway.¡±

    ¡°But classes don¡¯t start¡­¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, your test starts at 0830.¡±

    Carly called out she was leaving.

    ¡°And get out of your uniform before you get it covered in stains at supper, I¡¯m giving you the rest of the afternoon off. Your first stop is the clinic to get your fingers looked at and a dosage review on your meds.¡±

    Sarah got out of her uniform and hung it with her others in the closet. She looked at the mess of cloths on her floor. She looked down at her fingers where she¡¯d chewed the raw during her panic attack. She pulled a pair of shorts and a top on and put on one of her clean sports bras and put her nice one that she wore with her uniform aside. She looked at Sir Gallant.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back with something for you to eat and drink. And hopefully something soft that isn¡¯t my smelliest piece of clothing hmm?¡±

    The mouse watched her and started to hop down like was he was going to follow her.

    ¡°No Sir Gallant stay here please. I need you to guard the Tower of the Black Rose for your princess.¡±

    His nose twitched and he hopped back up on top of her bed then skittered up on top of the bookcase that was her headboard and he crouched down nose twitching as if he was guarding her bed. She shook her head and chuckled.

    ¡°You are a strange mouse Sir Gallant. I¡¯m strange too, I think we will get along fine.¡±

    He licked his paws and watched the big one of the fields. The other big one had been right. This big one needed protection. She was precious. Too good for the big one world. He watched her leave and kept his perch watching the door before he drifted off to sleep.

    Sarah closed the door behind her and headed down to the subway. It was empty again. Her dorm sisters were in class and would be for another hour. She was missing PT as they referred to it here. She stared at the back wall of the subway. She heard footsteps behind her, and it was the blond-haired boy again. Same luminous blue eyes. She felt the same pull, it felt inevitable, like gravity. He walked up to her. She marveled at how adorable his half smile/half smirk was. She could get lost in his eyes forever. She felt his hand on hers and there it was again, that electricity that made her belly tingle. She shifted her legs uncomfortably.

    ¡°Sarah, what happened to your hand?¡±

    Sarah blushed and she couldn¡¯t find her words again. She was melting into him, and she couldn¡¯t stop herself she just stared into his eyes and he hers.

    ¡°You can tell me, you know me.¡±

    She found herself speaking, it felt like she had known him forever. Like she could tell him anything and everything.

    ¡°I used my powers in my dorm I was upset and scared they were going to send me away.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t fear them, Sarah. They should fear you.¡±

    Sarah snatched her hand back he closed his hand slowly looking like something precious had slipped from his grasp. Sarah stepped back.

    ¡°What are you doing to me?¡±

    ¡°Sarah, I am not here to hurt you. You are lost. I¡¯m here to bring you back.¡±

    He reached out a hand then pulled it back when Sarah stumbled backwards into a support. Seemingly to get away from him.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re in my head. I can¡¯t think clearly when you touch me.¡±

    ¡°The only power I have over you is what you give me. As it has always been and always will be.¡±

    She knew every word was true. She knew how his heartbeat felt against her head when he held her. How his lips felt on hers. She knew he would do anything for her, anything even¡­ She couldn¡¯t catch the thought it fled from her grasp. Her heart knew but her logical mind screamed this was some sort of magic or mind control.

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    She looked and he was gone and one of the girls from her class was coming down the stairs and looked behind her and around her. Then gave Sarah weird look. The girl was one she recognized from her dorm. She was¡­Alisa? She had dark skin and Sarah believed she was American, from Mississippi.

    ¡°You don¡¯t own the subway. Just because you have two powers and are a PL8 doesn¡¯t mean you can boss me around; I belong here as much as you do.¡±

    Sarah looked around and it was only the two of them. She started to blush, was she going mad?

    ¡°Did you see the boy? He was¡­ right there.¡±

    She pointed at the spot he was standing.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see anyone except your crazy ass. The other girls are right. You¡¯re nuts.¡±

    Sarah blushed again and distanced herself from her dorm sister and waited for the train. When it stopped, she swore she saw his reflection behind her watching her with sad eyes. When she turned, she saw nothing, she rubbed her eyes and got on the car and sat down. It was deserted except for her and the other girl who now thought she was a raving lunatic. Sarah looked at the floor of the car and avoided the cautious glances of Alisa for half the ride and then she thought she¡¯d better say something. So, she walked towards her. Alisa pulled out her ear buds.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡­ am a bit well I¡¯m not feeling great, and I am going to med I wasn¡¯t talking to you, I honestly didn¡¯t even know you were there. I¡¯m not usually like this. Really. I¡¯m just sorry, I would never¡­ I don¡¯t treat people¡­ I treat people how they¡­ I respect everyone. Until the give me a reason not to.¡±

    ¡°I get it you¡¯re not racist, I bet you have all kinds of black friends huh?¡±

    Sarah looked at her having no idea what she was talking about. She blinked a few times trying to process it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen white girls like you all my life, pretending to be all woke. Bet you marched in BLM protests like your white ass has ever been randomly tossed around by MANA agents, police. Then you come here to this school get in our faces like you¡¯re a somebody, go away.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s brain effectively shut down that point. She had no concept of how to respond.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I¡¯ll let you¡­¡±

    Sarah wandered away and sat down again. Alisa put her earbuds seeming to be content she¡¯d put the other girl in her place. She looked out the window it was getting close to the med center. She saw her reflection then she saw the boy again she jumped and looked again but she didn¡¯t see him. Alisa who had seen her jump shook her head and went back to reading her holo-tablet. When the train stopped she got off. There were a few more people in the subway station here. She went up the stairs and found herself in the entrance way to the med center-hospital. She walked up to the receptionist. The med center was quiet today and basically it just seemed to be staff here.

    ¡°Wave your tablet over the scanner please.¡±

    Sarah waved her wrist over it, the woman looked confused at first but then saw her screen light up with Sarah¡¯s details.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re one of the grade 9s with the fancy new tablets.¡±

    ¡°What can we do for you Sarah MacCloud?¡±

    Sarah showed her the damage to her fingertips.

    ¡°Hmm one of those are you?¡±

    ¡°And I was hoping, I could talk to someone about my ADHD meds? I¡¯m not sure they¡¯re working properly.¡±

    ¡°Okay well, I see here that Ms. Sheppard has called ahead and said you were coming. First up is getting those fingers patched up, then Dr. Carston. Follow me, it¡¯s pretty quiet I can get you right in.¡±

    The receptionist motioned for Sarah to follow her, and she was taken to what she¡¯d say was a non-standard clinic room. It basically had a desk and chairs and a bunch of weird symbols all over the place. A woman was there, and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

    ¡°Hey, stress nail biter, can you fix her up?¡±

    The woman nodded and chanted motioning her hands and finally touching Sarah¡¯s hands with hers and Sarah¡¯s fingers were brand new again her nails were back to a nice length and the rawness was gone. Sarah looked at them.

    ¡°Wow that was amazing, thank you.¡±

    The woman nodded and the receptionist tugged on Sarah¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Dr. Carston. I already let him know you were coming when I got the call from your Dorm mother. Pay attention hon, this is the way you¡¯re going have to go for your follow up appointments. They went through a small waiting area, and she knocked on a door. There was a receptionist desk that stood empty.¡±

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    The receptionist let Sarah go inside and walked away. When Sarah entered the office and closed the door behind her. She looked around, it was a pretty warm space, the walls were a soft brown there was a couch, comfortable chairs. Things on the table to fiddle with. The doctor was a larger man. He had a full beard and a warm smile. He pulled his reading glasses off and put them on his desk.

    ¡°Sarah, welcome.¡±

    He offered his hand and Sarah shook it. He had a firm handshake.

    ¡°I¡¯m Dr. Carston I¡¯ve been expecting you since I saw your file.¡±

    Sarah giggled nervously.

    ¡°Oh, so, I¡¯m really crazy instead of just scatterbrained?¡±

    She rolled her eyes and was fiddling with her fingers, and she muttered in Gaelic.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m crazy, I¡¯m seeing things that aren¡¯t there.¡±

    ¡°No, Sarah. I just saw that you had been overprescribed medications, that you were being transitioned to another gender and you have ADHD. You will need a refill on your prescriptions and even here where you can transition with magic it is still required you undergo a counseling, so you understand what it means to transition-.¡±

    Sarah tried not to interrupt him, but she lost her patience. The desk started to shake, and her hands had blue veins starting to run through them.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to stop you right there. There is no transition. There was never a transition, there never will be a transition. Oh my god why are people so blind! It was my mother!¡±

    ¡°Sarah, there is no need yell we can discuss this calmly. It was your mother. Okay let¡¯s talk about that maybe without the earthquake?¡±

    Sarah unclenched her fists the veins retreated rapidly as she started doing her breathing. She blinked and looked at the mess she had made on his desk, and she started to hurriedly pick up the pens like she could undo her telekinetic outburst. He touched her hand gently.

    ¡°Sarah, it is alright, happens a lot with students at the school.¡±

    Sarah had tears running down her cheeks. She was trying to stop the onrushing panic attack with her breathing exercises.

    ¡°I¡­ we aren¡¯t allowed¡­ I¡­¡±

    ¡°This room is a safe space. Obviously, something to do with the subject of gender has a very strong negative emotional response and you have ADHD, sometimes you lack the usual block between thought and action that neurotypical people have. This is all normal, your powers are like your arms or your legs. They are extra limbs, and you are still learning how to use them. It means that you lack control of them. It¡¯s alright, nothing got broken except maybe my record for a power going off in an appointment. We found one of our pain points quickly, this is good.¡±

    Sarah kept tidying the desk. She just couldn¡¯t leave it like it was it was driving her slightly nuts for some reason. Dr. Carston obviously used to such behavior just let her finish while they talked.

    ¡°Why does my desk being in disarray bother you Sarah?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know most of the time a mess doesn¡¯t bother me then all of a sudden it does. Like I suddenly get embarrassed and then I clean my room to the point of obsession and when I¡¯m done, I look for anything I missed until something distracts me. I mean I could go for days putting everything where it belongs. It¡¯s like I have this line if I go across it all I can think of is cleaning up. To the point it frustrates me when I have to stop, and I get angry. But then poof it is gone I give up again and just don¡¯t care.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°The mess I made on your desk; It reminded me I lost control. It was embarrassing.¡±

    ¡°So, you were trying to erase your mistake?¡±

    Sarah shrugged. She kept staring at the rightened pen holder with the pens she¡¯d just added to it.

    ¡°I thought this was about reviewing my meds.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a slow day and you are off, I figured we¡¯d talk, find out what your challenges are first. So, about the gender transition that you say is not of your choosing. Would you like to talk about it?¡±

    Sarah shrugged again not making eye contact.

    ¡°What¡¯s to talk about? My mother took me to get shots every six months, said they were to help with my ADHD, but they weren¡¯t they were to stop me from being a girl.¡±

    ¡°Well, that isn¡¯t precisely what those do Sarah, they slow down development, so you have a choice if you want to be a boy. Are you happy with your body?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I¡¯m a teenage girl. My legs are too long, my chest is too small, I look like a boy. I¡­ I¡­ just, sometimes when I look in the mirror, I feel like the reflection is wrong. It¡¯s not all the time sometimes it just hits me wrong.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°But not all the time?¡±

    ¡°No sometimes I just see me and that¡¯s me, its Sarah the girl who has the body of a boy.¡±

    ¡°So, Sarah, your mother didn¡¯t tell you they were puberty blockers? You did not have a conversation with a doctor about it? To assess if you should be on them?¡±

    Sarah shook her head while fiddling with one last pen she had not put away.

    ¡°So, when you found out how did you feel?¡±

    Sarah had tears falling from cheeks and landing on her thighs.

    ¡°How do you think I felt?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, that is why I am asking you.¡±

    ¡°I was mad. I was really mad.¡±

    ¡°Who were you angry with?¡±

    ¡°My mom, the doctor, my dad for not stopping her.¡±

    ¡°What did you do about it?¡±

    ¡°I stopped talking to them I nearly killed my mom when she tried to pressure me into talking.¡±

    ¡°Did you ask them why they did it? Have you talked to them about it?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I know why they did it, they wanted a boy.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Why does it matter? They did it, they betrayed their own child.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°And what about these other medications they had you on? Did they tell you why?¡±

    ¡°Aye, they said ADHD. But they had nothing to do with it.¡±

    ¡°No, they wouldn¡¯t help with that. Were you an angry kid?¡±

    ¡°I mean I guess sometimes. It is so easy to get angry.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is, Sarah, yes, it is.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter I¡¯m here now I just need meds that¡¯s all. They are out of my life.¡±

    ¡°Are they really? I get the feeling you are still really angry with them, so angry that when someone mentions them you want to lash out.¡±

    Sarah didn¡¯t look up and shrugged.

    ¡°That looks like a yes, am I right?¡±

    ¡°Aye. Ms. Sheppard keeps trying to get me to talk to my mom.¡±

    ¡°Has your mother tried to contact you?¡±

    ¡°I dinnae, I blocked their numbers, blocked them on all my social media.¡±

    ¡°Did it help?¡±

    ¡°No but they just want to apologize to make themselves feel better and I don¡¯t care if they die in a ditch.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Sarah, you can¡¯t just ignore your family and hope the feelings go away. I¡¯m not defending their actions, in fact I find them abhorrent, and I¡¯m surprised they are not in prison.¡±

    ¡°They would be if I hadn¡¯t come here.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°The headmistress said if I came of my own free will and she didn¡¯t have to drag me here in shackles she¡¯d get them immunity.¡±

    ¡°So, you sacrificed your freedom for them, even though you don¡¯t care if they¡¯re dead in a ditch somewhere? Does that make sense to you?¡±

    ¡°No but stuff never makes sense. Can I get meds or not?¡±

    He wrote down some more notes.

    ¡°Sarah, you have had a rough life so far.¡±

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t, I¡¯m an upper middle class white girl who is a star athlete and almost straight A¡¯s how is that rough, I¡¯ve never wanted for anything.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very self-aware for a fourteen-year-old, did you know that?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°But you have wanted for something haven¡¯t you? You wanted parents you could trust, you wanted doctors you could trust, and you wanted a normal body, which seems to be happening for you now. But trusting people is going to be hard. Based on the conversation I had with Ms. Sheppard, which was cryptic at best, she said you may need to talk to me again very soon. She is afraid you will feel betrayed by her and the Headmistress after she talks to you tonight. I want you to know I¡¯m here for you. I hope you feel like we can trust each other to be honest and open. I know you¡¯re struggling; You would have been struggling if you were in a normal high school on your original world, but now you¡¯re on a completely different earth and things probably feeling a little out of control. So here is my card. You can reach me on that cell phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week.¡±

    He picked up his glasses and put them on and started looking at his computer screen.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s talk ADHD meds. Okay your current medications are, Vyvanse 10, and a monthly slow acting Estrogen injection. With a small Dexedrine dosage if you are having trouble.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with the Estrogen. You are due next week; I will make sure we get you an appointment. How are you doing on the Vyvanse? Are you finding it hard to focus still?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Okay, well let¡¯s try this, you have how many pills left?¡±

    ¡°A month.¡±

    ¡°Okay tomorrow I want you to take two of your Vyvanse pills, see how it works. If you feel more focused continue doing that. If we see an improvement with that dosage, I¡¯ll prescribe higher dosage ones. If not, we will look at increasing it. You have grown since they were prescribed originally, and you need more to do the same work. Are you taking breaks?¡±

    ¡°I was but then I was told not too by the Headmistress because¡­¡±

    ¡°No, you need to take breaks. Or you will get to a point where it will do nothing, and you will crash. If you do not have classes do not take them, unless you are going to have to be out in public or near big social events. Basically, I¡¯m telling you if you don¡¯t take them stay in your room and watch movies, study, do whatever, until you¡¯re in better control of your abilities.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Your dosage should have been increased already at least once, so I¡¯m skipping the fifteen stage and going right to twenty. If you feel sweaty or you feel like you¡¯re vibrating, you can¡¯t eat, you¡¯re overly thirsty, do not take two the next day. Okay?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    He wrote down some more notes.

    ¡°I have a suggestion, you seem like you¡¯re stuck in a bit of a rut, why not shake stuff up. Go crazy, cut your hair, or dye your hair or both. Do something so that when you look in the mirror you are excited? I know the hormone therapy is not making things happen as fast as you want, but do something for yourself okay?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Okay, well I¡¯ve kept you for an hour. I¡¯ve requested an appointment for our pediatric endocrinologist for your injection. Looks like they have recommended four more months. I have made an appointment for us next Tuesday same time. I¡¯ve been told you do enough PT in the mornings on your own that you are okay with missing one of those classes a week. These appointments are mandatory until Ms. Sheppard is satisfied you are making good progress.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Whatever.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as, you¡¯re excited to see me next week and look forward to making good progress.¡±

    Sarah shook her head and smiled. She started to leave then put the pen in the holder and waved sheepishly before exiting the office. She walked towards the subway station.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Whatever happened in the Green house?

    The car was crowded now with students from all grades. Sarah felt out of place she was the only person out of uniform. She hurried off when it hit the station for the mall. She was in a river of flowing students. She went up the stairs and found herself in a private mall for the school. It wasn¡¯t anything fancy. A small food court with non-cafeteria food, a barber, a hair stylist. A couple of clothes stores that catered to different tastes and general store with odds and ends. The food court was full of students. The hair stylist was empty she pondered what Dr. Carston told her, and she walked in. A change, maybe that¡¯s what she needed. The lone hairdresser on duty perked up when she saw Sarah enter. The woman sounded American.

    ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to change my hair.¡±

    ¡°Really, trim? Cut? What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll go with dye. If you have time, that is.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I should touch that hair. It¡¯s gorgeous. You must have spent a fortune on the spell to change your hair color.¡±

    Sarah was confused for a few seconds.

    ¡°Oh no, this is natural color, I just need a change. Something to make me excited to look in the mirror again.¡±

    ¡°You are a lucky girl. Hair like that, people spend thousands for.¡±

    Sarah gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what, how about a temporary spell, its quick, painless and most of all inexpensive. If you like it, make an appointment and we¡¯ll go for a full-on permanent dye?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°That sounds good. I probably need a trim though. It¡¯s a bit split at the ends.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Well Sarah, I¡¯m Megan, shall we wash it, trim then do the spell on it?¡±

    ¡°Aye.¡±

    Sarah let the hairdresser do her thing. She actually got about three inches trimmed off to make it easier to deal with when working out. It was down to just below her shoulders now.

    ¡°Spell is pretty cheap; We could do this a few times until you find one you like?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°What shall we do?¡±

    ¡°Well, everyone says I should have born with red hair because I have the temper of a ginger¡­ could we do that? So, it looks natural?¡±

    ¡°Easy, here goes¡±

    The woman started chanting and ran her fingers through Sarah¡¯s hair front to back. As her fingers ran through the silver strands her hair turned to a natural red color. Megan held up a mirror so she could see the back.

    ¡°What do you think Sarah?¡±

    ¡°That looks so real, like I was born with it.¡±

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s a great little spell, one of the few I can cast. It lasts about a month, but it can be dispelled easily. It looks good with your skin tone. Wow good choice Sarah.¡±

    Sarah thanked Megan and paid her bill with the credit card her mother¡¯s duplicate¡¯s parents gave her. She decided to just call them her mother¡¯s parents from then on just to keep things sane. She walked through the mall to the general good store and started looking for some form of home for Sir Gallant. It seemed like they had small habitats for rodents already. She pondered why if pets weren¡¯t allowed. Maybe older students had less restrictions. She found a nice one that would fit above her pillow. Purchased some aspen wood shavings for the small plastic bin she found. She bought a small habitat for him. Nothing big enough it wouldn¡¯t fit in one bag. The mouse seemed smart, probably because it was an Earth-3 mouse and she assumed he wouldn¡¯t need a cage, it¡¯s not like she was going to make him stay, she also bought some rodent food. Her next stop was one of the women¡¯s clothing stores where she got some help trying to find a couple more uniform bras and some uniform approved leggings. It would get cold here in the winter. She felt normal, she was just a girl out getting her hair done and then shopping. She glanced at her wrist. She was late for supper she glanced at the food court which was still open and went to the pizza restaurant and ordered a slice and a drink of soda. All they had left was peperoni and Hawaiian. The choice was clear she hated pineapple on pizza so Peperoni it was. The food court was still packed with a bunch of older kids who were laughing and chatting away. She finished her food and took in the ambiance of the food court. It felt like being in Arizona. She pondered what her friends were doing right then. Then realized it was just before lunch for them and they would be in class.

    She tapped her holo-tablet and dialed a number. She had memorized it the moment her Nan had handed to her. She didn¡¯t know why, maybe force of habit. Before all of this if she needed a champion, she¡¯d call her mom. Her mom would fight tooth and nail for her. Now¡­she wasn¡¯t so sure. Her finger hovered over the dial button she finally let her finger fall through the holographic display and it started to ring. Her finger hovered over the disconnect button. She didn¡¯t know why she was calling her at all. Was it to piss her off with the dye job the shorter trim? Show her mother she wasn¡¯t needed? It rang three more times, and she was about to hit disconnect when the video phone picked up. It was her mother, but she looked older, more tired. The summer had not been kind to her. Her eyes lit up but then she looked worried.

    ¡°Sarah is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°No mom, everything is perfect here. I¡¯m happy, I¡¯m making friends I had a great summer with my grandparents, all four of them.¡±

    Her mom was nodding along. It looked like she was living in an apartment not a house.

    ¡°It is so good to hear from you. I¡­missed you. Where are you? And is your hair red?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m at the mall on campus at school. My hair is whatever I want it to be you do not get to choose anymore. I choose now.¡±

    Her mother nodded Sarah could see tears forming in her eyes.

    ¡°Mom I¡¯m going to lay out some ground rules between us moving forward. I will call you; You will not call me. I still have your number blocked. I am still very angry with you. I am not sure I will ever forgive you for what you did to me. So, when I call: You will not criticize me I have my grandmothers to do that now. My respect level for you is zero right now. My trust level for you is in the negatives. I do not owe you anything. I want this to change, I want you in my life. You¡¯re my mom. I love you but love is not enough to fix what you did. Ms. Sheppard, she¡¯s my dorm mother, you met her. She said I should hear your side of the story, she said that a girl should have her real mother in her life.¡±

    ¡°Okay, look Sarah I¡¯m sorry I know that doesn¡¯t mean anything¡­¡±

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m not done yet. Please just listen: I was told by Ms. Sheppard that you and dad hid something else from me. She¡¯s going to tell me tonight. I don¡¯t know what it is, but it has a to do with a dream I have about a man grabbing me in a green house. I thought it might be bad enough I would never make this call so I made it, in a public place so I would be able to keep it together better. So, mom, this is your one and only chance: Help me understand why you tried to make me into a boy, and drugged me so badly I could barely function sometimes?¡±

    ¡°Sarah it, it wasn¡¯t like that. You¡­ we got a letter it said they would take you away from us when you started puberty, so we ran. I didn¡¯t want to lose you to some strange government thing so I just took you and said to a doctor you were confused about your gender, and you had expressed an interested in being a boy so they would give you the shots so you wouldn¡¯t hit puberty just¡­to buy more time¡­at first then I thought it was working. I mean after the¡­green house I knew I had to do something. And you were so¡­ I mean you. We needed to keep you calm so I got the pills I said you had a violent outburst that you were anxious¡­ Sarah I was trying to protect you from¡­ And then you started to remember, and I thought maybe if we¡­ Sarah you don¡¯t want to know what happened in that green house. You really don¡¯t want to know.¡±

    Her mother was sobbing at this point. Sarah actually started to feel bad for her. It was making sense.

    ¡°Mom what happened¡­ how did they find out?¡±

    ¡°You, you made a bubble around the car¡­there was this accident you just unbuckled your belt and you got out of the car and you made bubble around us. Your eyes glowed this bright blue and the fire¡­the explosion it just went around us. You stood there for half an hour and when the fire was out you collapsed on the ground. You saved us all.¡±

    ¡°When I was six? That doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­you can¡¯t use your powers until you hit puberty.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, hon I don¡¯t know what happened it was a miracle. And we just left, got to our house and pretended nothing happened. Then a letter came it said that you had superpowers and that you would need to go to be trained and that you could never come back home. It laid out all these ways we could come with you. I had no idea your father¡­ I didn¡¯t know. All I know¡­ Its not important. Your father said we needed to run away so we ran to the US and we were happy in Minnesota weren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Yes I¡­I was angry you made us leave.¡±

    ¡°We had to Sarah, we had no choice. You¡­ you did something, and your father called in that red haired British woman. She made it all go away but she said you would have to come with her. She gave us two weeks to talk to you and get you ready. We ran again. And after what happened, I mean what if your brothers? I just... I could not lose you and so I did what I thought was right.¡±

    ¡°Mom, I do not know what happened in Minnesota. I will know soon. Do you know why I¡¯m mad?¡±

    ¡°I stunted your development, and you were bullied for it.¡±

    ¡°No mom. I am mad because instead of talking to me explaining to me what was going on you just did it. You did it without my consent. You took my choice away. A choice that is the right of every child to make.¡±

    Her mother was still crying.

    ¡°Sarah, you don¡¯t need to know what happened in Minnesota.¡±

    ¡°Mom I¡¯m already remembering but I don¡¯t understand. I need context.¡±

    Sarah went back to her breathing keeping herself calm.

    ¡°Okay that is done. I don¡¯t agree with what you did, and I¡¯m still very angry with you for doing it, but I understand.¡±

    Her mother sniffled and used a tissue to wipe her nose.

    ¡°Sarah, I have something to tell you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening mom.¡±

    ¡°Your dad and I, we¡¯re separated. He took your brothers. He said he couldn¡¯t trust them with me¡­ after what I did to you.¡±

    Her mother¡¯s mouth opened and closed a few times.

    ¡°I can¡¯t disagree with him. After¡­what¡­ happened to you. I¡­ Sarah? I love you.¡±

    Sarah was staring at her mother blankly. She hadn¡¯t expected this. It made her feel sick in the pit of her stomach. Her mother¡¯s words were becoming slower almost slurred Her eye lids were looking droopy.

    ¡°Mom, are you alright? I mean should I be worried? Are you going to hurt yourself? Did you take something?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I took some¡­¡±

    ¡°Mom where are you now?¡±

    ¡°I moved¡­ here¡­ thought maybe¡­ I could find you before school make¡­ it up to you. I couldn¡¯t and¡­I didn¡¯t want to hurt anyone else.¡±

    Sarah quickly started dialing another number on her Holo-Tablet.

    ¡°Mom, I got another call, don¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    She muted her mother and her grandmother, her mother¡¯s mother appeared.

    ¡°Sarah dear, you look distraught what is wrong?¡±

    ¡°My mom, your daughter¡¯s¡­she¡¯s not doing well, and I think she might¡­I think she is going to hurt herself. I don¡¯t know who else to call about this grandma. I¡¯m on the phone with her right now and she does not look good.¡±

    ¡°My daughter is here?¡±

    ¡°My mom, from Earth-2 she¡¯s in Scotland, Glasgow, I think. I have her number can you call the police or something?¡±

    ¡°Give me her number quickly Sarah.¡±

    Sarah recited it from memory she saw her grandmother writing it down.

    ¡°You keep her on the line with you. I¡¯ll call you back when I have reached the police and you can bring me on the line with her and we¡¯ll talk to her together until they get there.¡±

    Sarah wiped her tears up.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Thank you, grandma.¡±

    Sarah flipped back to her mother and saw she was still there and alive.

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m back, sorry it was one of my room mates.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t you¡­ umm own room?¡±

    ¡°No mom, there¡¯s another girl from Earth-2 here, she¡¯s from Washington. We have a lot in common and there¡¯s a vampire who is two thousand years old, but her memories were erased so she¡¯s basically like us a teenage girl. She seems to have been made really young. And there is another girl she¡¯s a punk. I mean like as in she likes punk music and dresses like¡­them.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­is she¡­ are you¡­ safe?¡±

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s harmless mom, she wouldn¡¯t hurt a fly, literally she¡¯d have to go to church and confess she is so catholic the pope should print a stamp with her picture on it.¡±

    Her mother looked like she was about to collapse Sarah kept talking rapidly tears dripping down her cheeks.

    ¡°Mom? Mom, listen to me, there is Amee, she¡¯s very opinionated. Thinks she knows what¡¯s best for me she¡¯s so American. Kerri, I¡¯m not sure about her yet. She¡¯s cool her family is on a prison colony because¡­I am not sure why. She has a chip on her shoulder. But she¡¯s friendly. She¡­well.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s tablet buzzed and she tapped it and brought her grandmother into a three way.

    ¡°Oh mom, look its grandma.¡±

    Her mother¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°Mom?¡±

    ¡°Yes M¨°rag, I know, you¡¯re not my M¨°rag but as soon as I saw your daughter, I knew I wanted to meet her mother.¡±

    ¡°Mom¡­ I don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    Sarah spoke, her voice more panicked with every passing second.

    ¡°Mom, listen to me, mom stay awake, mom please. The police and ambulance are on their way.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s mother¡¯s head started to slant to the side her eyes closed she heard hurried knocking at the door and finally a crash and she saw a policewoman rush over to her mother. She put her hand on her mother¡¯s throat.

    ¡°Still got a pulse. Get the paramedics in here.¡±

    She started searching and found a bottle near Sarah¡¯s mother and she saw the policewoman hand it off to a paramedic. Sarah¡¯s grandmother was showing an uncharacteristic amount of emotion she was crying. Sarah had always known her to be this very stoic woman. Sarah was in tears almost sobbing; It was loud enough she had people staring at her.

    ¡°Mom¡­mom¡­¡±

    The policewoman noticed the phone and picked it up.

    ¡°Your mom is going to be alright; We know what she took, and we¡¯ll help her. Your daughter will be fine Lady MacDonald. I¡¯ll keep you informed.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s grandmother nodded. The policewoman hung up the phone. Sarah was sobbing now. She had tried to keep it together and she was so mad at her mother she hadn¡¯t even noticed¡­if she¡¯d see her sooner maybe she would have. A couple of older girls came to the table.

    ¡°Are you alright? Should we call someone?¡±

    Sarah shook her head then nodded. Her grandmother spoke again.

    ¡°Sarah you should go back to your room and rest I¡¯ll call you as soon as I know more, your grandfather and I are on the way to the Glasgow and the hospital right now.¡±

    Sarah nodded and continued sobbing.

    ¡°What is wrong Sarah?¡±

    The older girl who was speaking was British by her accent and she had brown hair, brown eyes. She was wearing her school uniform. She was probably a senior. She must have heard Sarah¡¯s grandmother say her name.

    ¡°I¡­ I just need to get home.¡±

    ¡°What dorm are you in?¡±

    ¡°Umbra.¡±

    ¡°Come on Sarah.¡±

    The three girls were carrying Sarah¡¯s things and escorted her to the subway and sat with her on the car. They chatted with each other about something going on with their classes and they walked Sarah to Carly¡¯s room and knocked on the door. Carly opened the door and looked at the wreck of a girl that was Sarah and the three seniors.

    ¡°Ms. Sheppard she kind of had a breakdown at the mall food court. I¡¯m not sure what happened, and she didn¡¯t want to tell us. Figured we should get her home.¡±

    ¡°You did the right thing, thanks Fiona.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just paying it forward someone did it for me when I was new here. I was such a home sick wreck.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to let the Headmistress know what you did. I¡¯m sure there is some merit points or something.¡±

    Fiona nodded waved to Sarah.

    ¡°See you around Sarah, it gets better.¡±

    The seniors vanished down the hall leaving a drained looking Sarah standing there with her bags around her.

    ¡°Sarah, it is like you can¡¯t go an hour without an emotional break down. What is it this time?¡±

    ¡°I called my mom¡­I was so mad at her I just kept telling her this is how it is¡­ and the whole time¡­ She¡­ took some pills. She¡­ didn¡¯t look like she was breathing.¡±

    Carly¡¯s face fell and she wrapped her arms around Sarah.

    ¡°Oh sweetheart. You should not have had to see that happen.¡±

    Carly motioned to some girls who were walking by. The came over.

    ¡°Go to Room 18, get the girls to come here please.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    The two girls ran off and soon afterwards Amee, Maria and Kerri arrived.

    ¡°Girls get her things.¡±

    Carly kept her arm around Sarah¡¯s shoulders and directed her back to her room. Her roommates followed with her bags. They were whispering about her hair. The whispering stopped when they got to her room and saw the dense black rose vine taking up one wall. They stared it at it slack jawed.

    ¡°Thank you, girls, you can go.¡±

    Amee hesitated but Kerri dragged her out by her arm.

    ¡°Sarah, I need you to tell me some things, so I know what we need to do next.¡±

    ¡°Did you tell anyone about your mother?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I called my grandma and asked her to call the police. Then we talked to mom until they got there.¡±

    ¡°Which grandmother was it?¡±

    ¡°My mother¡¯s mom.¡±

    ¡°Good, good, now did the police say anything?¡±

    ¡°They said they found the bottle for what she took and that she had a pulse.¡±

    Carly closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of thanks.

    ¡°Did they say they would call?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Grandma said she would call as soon as they know more.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t your grandfather a world-renowned life Archmage?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Then your mom is going to be fine. He can just make whatever she took go away and then heal the damage. Oh, your mom is in good hands.¡±

    She hugged Sarah¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°If she isn¡¯t, it¡¯s my fault, if I¡¯d just looked at her, or called her sooner or hadn¡¯t blocked her.¡±

    ¡°Sarah this is not your fault.¡±

    ¡°It is all my fault. If I had never been born¡­¡±

    ¡°If you had never been born your parents would have died in a car accident eight years ago. This isn¡¯t on you. This started when your mother started making the wrong choices when you were twelve. You are not to blame for any of this.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°And wow the hair? It looks good is that dye?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Spell.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so not permanent?¡±

    Sarah nodded. Sir Gallant was out of his nest his nose twitching looking at Sarah running back and forth as if he was worried. Sarah reached out her hand and he ran up it and to her shoulder and squeaked near her ear.

    ¡°Safe, Safe.¡±

    Sarah gasped.

    ¡°He just told me I¡¯m safe now.¡±

    Carly shook her head.

    ¡°Strange mouse.¡±

    Sir Gallant rubbed against Sarah¡¯s cheek then his tiny paw started brushing tears off her face. He pulled himself up to her ear again.

    ¡°Big one promised secret.¡±

    Sarah looked at Sir Gallant who was on her shoulder rubbing his little paws together. She realized that she couldn¡¯t do anything for her mom¡­ but she could find out¡­

    ¡°What happened in the green house?¡±

    ¡°Sarah now is not the right time¡­¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t find out why I keep seeing that greenhouse I¡¯ll go crazy. I can either sit here and pull my eye lashes and bite my nails or I can do something useful.¡±

    Carly sighed. Best get this done now she supposed better than letting Sarah get over her mother then destroying her again.

    ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Sarah followed Carly. Sarah stopped and Carly looked at her.

    ¡°I want Amee, Maria and Kerri there.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, you really don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°No, no more secrets they are poison.¡±

    Carly frowned. She wanted to put her foot down but honestly it was Sarah¡¯s choice. She had enough of those taken away from her. Sarah went and gathered each of her roommates. Sarah spoke as they walked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to see but I¡­well I think you should know who you¡¯re living with.¡±

    Amee hooked her arm in Sarah¡¯s

    ¡°It can¡¯t be worse than what I¡¯ve done.¡±

    Maria nodded.

    ¡°I have read my sister¡¯s journals about me; I was not a good person.¡±

    Kerri followed the group not saying anything. Carly opened her door and pulled out a thumb stick and plugged it into her Earth-2 computer that was hooked up to the TV. She found the file.

    ¡°This is graphic. Are you sure you want to be here for it?¡±

    The girls all nodded. Sarah was squeezing Amee¡¯s hand. Carly pressed play and there were three camera angles of the greenhouse. She was hiding under a table. The green house door swung open, it was man in his mid-forties, chubby, he was very average looking so much so you¡¯d not be able to pick him out of a crowd. Twelve-year-old Sarah jumped out with a boo then realized it was not her brothers and stepped back. The man said something that the video didn¡¯t record. Sarah ran around the tables and tried to dash past him, but he grabbed her around the waist and started touching her hair with his free hand. Amee¡¯s grip on Sarah¡¯s hand tightened Maria grabbed on to her other arm. In the video, Sarah reached desperately for a hand trawl, but she couldn¡¯t get her hand around it then he said something to her ear and her eyes glowed bright green, veins started appearing all over her arms and hands and on her cheeks the plants started growing and an exponential rate. The first tomato vine started pulling his arms off of her, she landed on the ground, and she had her hand reached out the towards him the vines started wrapping themselves around his limbs he was crying out for help. Twelve-year-old Sarah smiled, and she said something, but the words were lost in the sound of the man¡¯s screams. They could hear him begging for his life. In response Sarah reached out her hand and clenched her fist. The vines around his limbs snapped all of them at once bending them to extreme angles he was screaming so loudly the audio was cutting out. She said something but the sound was again lost in the man¡¯s screams. He begged for mercy. She said another word then. She flicked her other palm towards him, and several vines reared up as if about to strike then they stabbed through him twisting and tearing the final sound on the video was the sickening sound of a man getting torn apart.

    Sarah and Kerri ran and started throwing up in Carly¡¯s double sink. Amee didn¡¯t look as disturbed as she should have been, and Maria could be described as more intrigued than she should have been. Even Carly had turned away for the final seconds of the man¡¯s life. Maria¡¯s hand started stroking her crucifix.

    ¡°Fifty-three plants at once. Instant growth. Complete control of them. Isn¡¯t that PL13?¡±

    Amee nodded.

    ¡°If they have this footage, why is she listed as a PL8?¡±

    Sarah had finished throwing up and was wiping her mouth off she had her arms crossed and her hands wrapped around her arms. She refused to look at the screen.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t just kill him, I enjoyed it I was smiling, I knew exactly what I was doing¡­why can¡¯t I remember.¡±

    ¡°The Headmistress tried to make you forget, when that failed to work, she edited the memory.¡±

    Amee shook her head.

    ¡°It looks like something else took control. The body language completely changed two minutes twenty-three seconds in. When he whispered into her ear, her whole demeanor changed. She went from scared twelve-year-old to pissed off something way scarier. I was able to filter out the sound its voice I don¡¯t have the language in my database. But it sounded like this.¡±

    Amee repeated some alien sounding words in Sarah¡¯s twelve-year-old voice. Sarah understood them immediately she didn¡¯t know what language it was, she translated it.

    ¡°I see your sins, all those girls, all that pain. You are a sickness; You are a monster; You will not touch me like father once did. Then she said beg for mercy. Then she said beg louder than the last word she said was no.¡±

    Maria nodded along to the translation.

    ¡°Yes, that is exactly what she said.¡±

    Carly looked at the pair.

    ¡°You both understood that?¡±

    Maria and Sarah nodded. Sarah still had her gaze averted from the TV.

    ¡°Do you know what language it was?¡±

    Maria¡¯s fingers started stroking her crucifix.

    ¡°No, I do not, I know many languages my mind remembers how to speak and understand them, but I have no names for them.¡±

    Sarah shook her head. Carly nodded.

    ¡°Well, there is something else you need to see.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to see more; I know why my mom did everything. I know why¡­ The Headmistress is so scared of me.¡±

    ¡°No, you need to see what you saved yourself from.¡±

    She opened another file and pointed at the screen.

    ¡°That man was charged and convicted with three counts of sexual assault on a minor, he served fifteen years. They suspected him of more.¡±

    She scrolled down.

    ¡°When the Headmistress was cleaning up the situation, she had to speak to his mother¡­ she knew where the bodies were buried. He is suspected of raping and killing six girls thirteen years old or younger, he would keep them for weeks before they disrupted his illusion of love, and he would kill them in a rage. His mother knew all about it and helped him cover it up. You would have vanished; You would have been raped repeatedly and you would have been buried with those girls. You were right in the video; He was a monster.¡±

    Sarah looked like she was going to be sick again. Amee rubbed her arm.

    ¡°I know the feeling. I did the same thing my first time. Couldn¡¯t stop, of course I was at the point where there was nothing left to get rid of so I just¡­ It¡¯s hard to deal with, but if it was easy then we would be the bad guys.¡±

    Carly grabbed Sarah¡¯s arm suddenly.

    ¡°You said in the video that he would not touch you like your father did, did your father¡­did he sexually abuse you?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, my father¡­would never. Never.¡±

    ¡°Now we know what you said, you know we have to report him right if it could be true¡­ if it could be true, we need to report it.¡±

    Sarah shook her head furiously.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s good dad, he never touched me, never.¡±

    Carly looked caught. She knew Sarah was telling the truth, but she was a mandatory reporter. She frowned.

    ¡°Sarah, I know you are telling me the truth as you know it. But I just cannot take that chance. I am sorry.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t, if my mother¡­and my dad¡­my brothers will have no one.¡±

    ¡°If he is innocent, IF he is innocent, he will be able to get custody back, but you know I¡¯m a teacher that means I am legally bound to tell the authorities if there was an accusation of sexual misconduct towards a child. This is one of those times I want to have your back, but my hands are tied.¡±

    Amee shook her head.

    ¡°Who do you report him too? Those crimes took place on Earth-2 in a country with no treaty. I mean, do police on our side have¡­jurisdiction?¡±

    ¡°Look I have to report it to child services in Arizona, I will let the legal crap get sorted out by the lawyers.¡±

    Sarah looked at Carly.

    ¡°Won¡¯t the Headmistress find out you showed me the video then?¡±

    Carly swore a few times.

    ¡°God damn it. You¡¯re right.¡±

    Amee blinked a few times.

    ¡°If MANA has Sarah listed as a PL8, they have not seen this video¡­¡±

    ¡°No, only the Headmistress and I have seen it.¡±

    ¡°Why would she lie about her strength?¡±

    Carly looked at the floor.

    ¡°The Headmistress has her reasons. But I¡¯m not here to be her yes woman. Sarah has a right to know the truth. But you cannot tell anyone else what you have seen or heard here. Sarah was almost killed on Earth-2 by terrorists trying to capture her they were from Earth-Prime. The Headmistress is concerned that they would ignore the danger of attacking the school if they found out how strong Sarah really is.¡±

    Sarah looked at Carly.

    ¡°Just how strong am I?¡±

    ¡°The limiters from the government weren¡¯t bad, you just overloaded their capacity. I don¡¯t know how. Neither does the Headmistress. That is why you¡¯re being tested tomorrow. What does this say?¡±

    Carly pulled out the piece of paper Eyre had written the Atlantean message on.

    ¡°Good Afternoon, Sarah.¡±

    She looked at the ruby around her neck. No light. She showed it to Maria.

    ¡°What language is this?¡±

    ¡°That is in Atlantean, like my sister¡¯s journal, and my journal.¡±

    ¡°Maria how old is this language?¡±

    ¡°It is older than creation, according to my journal.¡±

    Sarah stumbled and sat down heavily on Carly¡¯s couch.

    ¡°Sarah, I don¡¯t know what is going on with you or how you know all this, but I have a feeling you have a lot in common with Maria. Maria is there anything in either of the journals that might give us a hint?¡±

    Maria shook her head.

    ¡°I have not seen anything. I could do a search once I am back in my room.¡±

    Carly glanced at her holo-tablet wrist band.

    ¡°Alright I need to take care of something. Remember this is all top secret. As far as anyone in this school knows Sarah is a PL8. Not a word about the Atlantean translation to the Headmistress, don¡¯t even lie about it just say nothing, same with the mouse.¡±

    ¡°What mouse?¡±

    Sir Gallant poked his head out of Sarah¡¯s top. Sarah glanced down.

    ¡°Sir Gallant.¡±

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s so cute.¡±

    ¡°Where did you find him?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know he nibbled on my ear to wake me up from a nightmare.¡±

    Carly frowned.

    ¡°Maria, you turned it into a mouse zombie, Sarah brought it back from the dead. The headmistress sent it to test. I have found out someone swapped a dead mouse for him. I think it was so it looks like Sarah just infused it with life energy instead of raising it from the dead.¡±

    ¡°Who would do that?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I have no idea. I was asking about lab security because they have some of the dangerous stuff from outside the barrier in there and I found out there are magical wards, a barrier and of course the cage itself was locked. So, whoever it was is either a very skilled mage, knows a secret entrance or is a ghost.¡±

    Carly¡¯s wrist vibrated.

    ¡°I need to go.¡±

    The girls filed out. Sir Gallant hid in Sarah¡¯s hair until she reached her room. Then hoped down her arm and onto the bookcase his nose twitching. Sarah decided the best way to deal with the revelations of the night and her mothers¡¯ near-death status was to put together Sir Gallant¡¯s habitat. He watched her assemble it with his keen eyes she moved her underwear and threw them on the floor and put the non-enclosed habitat down for him. He sniffed it and explored then started rolling around in the wood shavings.

    ¡°Do you like it Sir Gallant. I didn¡¯t want to get you a cage. I do not own you. You are your own mouse.¡±

    He jumped onto her pillow and up her arm to her ear. He nuzzled it.

    ¡°Now safe too.¡±

    Sarah laughed and he hopped down her arm and into the padded habitat and curled up. Sarah looked around her room. She knew she needed to get it clean but that could be another night, right? She flopped back onto her bed and starred at the ceiling suddenly missing the glow in the dark galaxies and stars from her old bedroom.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - MANA PACPPLT - Standardized Power and Aptitude exam.

    Sarah woke up to her wrist vibrating. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the time. It was 5 am. Sarah tapped the holo-tablet. It was her grandmother who looked exhausted but not devastated.

    ¡°Grandma. Is mom alright?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°It was very close, but your grandfather was able to save her. Which wouldn¡¯t have been possible if you hadn¡¯t called me when you did. It was a miracle you called her when you did.¡±

    Sarah rubbed her face with her arm that wasn¡¯t occupied with creating a holo-projection.

    ¡°You look like you need sleep Grandma.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just promised I would call you as soon as I knew more. I¡¯ll call you as soon as she is awake and leave a message if you¡¯re in class. You should get some more sleep Sarah.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I would have been getting up in half an hour to go do my jog anyway.¡±

    ¡°Girls your age needs their sleep.¡±

    ¡°I know but my psychologist said that getting into a good routine that involved healthy food and lots of exercise would help me with my ADHD, so I¡¯ve been trying to make sure I started my day with a good work out. Its good practice for when I join a AAA hockey team.¡±

    Her grandmother shook her head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t agree with you playing such violent sports. I just wish your other grandmother would listen to me.¡±

    Sarah gave half smile.

    ¡°Grandma I love you, but I respectfully disagree. I¡¯m happy you care enough to tell me what you really think.¡±

    Her grandmother looked slightly ruffled that Sarah disagreed with her.

    ¡°At least your polite with your teenage rebellion.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for letting me know Grandma. I call back and check on her later. Are you sure you¡¯re okay with this? She isn¡¯t really your daughter.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense. She¡¯s a human being in need. And she¡¯s your mother and believe it or not your grandfather and I have grown rather attached to having a grandchild. I¡¯d like to believe my alternate would do the same thing for my daughter.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for being awesome grandma.¡±

    Her grandmother started to blush. Sarah kissed her hand with her lips and touched the holo-tablet.

    ¡°Can you pass that to Grandpa for me.¡±

    ¡°I will. And Sarah, why is your hair red?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°The psychiatrist here said I looked like I was stuck in an appearance rut, and I should do something to change it up, it was either this or three nose rings and nipple piercings, so I went the permanent spell for hair color change. I might still do the nipples.¡±

    Her grandmother looked like she was about to faint.

    ¡°I¡¯m teasing you Grandma, it¡¯s a temporary spell. I already feel like a new me.¡±

    ¡°Saints be praised. You almost gave me a heart attack. You have your father¡¯s sense of humor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that is a compliment.¡±

    ¡°It is most assuredly not. Perhaps we can cure you of it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for being a British Grandmother.¡±

    ¡°What does a ¡°British Grandmother¡± have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°A Scottish grandmother will tell you look like crap outright; A British grandmother will try to fix while criticizing you politely. These are known facts I researched it when I was younger.¡±

    Her grandmother frowned.

    ¡°I¡¯m teasing you Grandma. I¡¯m sorry this is probably random¡­but did you make your daughter learn Scottish Gaelic?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re British?¡±

    ¡°Your great-grandmother made me promise to do it as part of a pre-nuptial agreement. So, I had to take lessons from her. She also wouldn¡¯t speak to me in anything but Gaelic. She was a¡­difficult woman.¡±

    ¡°My mother made me learn it to, wouldn¡¯t let me speak English at home.¡±

    ¡°Well, some things do not change. Sarah, since your mother is going to be staying with us until she is well, and not a danger to herself, can you tell me more about her? You were very quiet about her or what she did to make you so angry you would not speak to her.¡±

    ¡°That is a very long story for 5:30 am in the morning when you haven¡¯t slept.¡±

    ¡°I would like to be prepared.¡±

    Sarah looked at her wall and sighed. She felt little feet working their way up her arm and onto her shoulder. Her grandmother didn¡¯t quite shriek but she was shocked.

    ¡°Why is a rodent crawling on you? The academy as certainly gone downhill since I was there!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay Grandma, this is Sir Gallant he is the brave protector of the Tower of the Black Rose where the Princess, that¡¯s me hides from the world. On the first floor in a slightly below ground dumpy room.¡±

    ¡°You are speaking nonsense girl.¡±

    Sarah held up the holo-tablet so her grandmother could see the wall of black rose vines.

    ¡°I grew a plant in class, it kind of spread.¡±

    Her grandmother looked impressed.

    ¡°Sarah, you are quite talented. I did not see any thorns.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want it to have any.¡±

    ¡°You grew it and manipulated its physical qualities?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes it was a bush type of rose not a vine.¡±

    ¡°You are going to be as good a healer as your grandfather and you won¡¯t even need to use magic. And they said you were a PL8?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°And the mouse¡­well it can talk. Or at least we understand each other.¡±

    She glanced at Sir Gallant.

    ¡°Sir Gallant this is my grandmother the Lady Macdonald. Could you say Hi?¡±

    He spun around in a circle and did the same thing Sarah had done to blow a kiss.

    ¡°See what I mean?¡±

    ¡°You can speak to animals?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never done it before I think he might just be magical because its Earth-3 and everything is infused with magic here.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, still it¡¯s a rodent filthy thing.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that grandma, he¡¯s super friendly and helpful. He wakes me up when I have nightmares, which stops me from causing earthquakes.¡±

    ¡°Well, be careful dear.¡±

    ¡°Grandma, did you still want to know about mom?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sorry, continue.¡±

    ¡°Mom¡¯s parents were also Lord and Lady MacDonald. He was a doctor; Her mother was a lawyer. She grew up in Scotland. She went to Cambridge like her mother. She met dad there he was taking Engineering, Electrical Engineering. I¡­ well I believe your daughter died just after the Academy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she did. Your father did not take it well and vanished. Now we know where.¡±

    ¡°So, dad went to Earth-2 to find her. He pursued her and wooed her because I guess she isn¡¯t that much different from your daughter? I don¡¯t know he never talked about her and well you haven¡¯t told me much about her, which I understand I know, I could tell it was hard. Her parents were flying to Russia for some medical conference before I was born, and the plane crashed. No survivors. She married my father was a crown prosecutor and then went into private practice when I was born. When I was six, they moved to the US, and I won¡¯t get into the whys right now. She attended Harvard Law school to study US law. She worked in private practice in Minnesota until¡­ well again not getting into the whys, but we moved to Arizona and then because dad¡¯s job was so well-paying, she started working as in legal aid. She basically didn¡¯t draw a salary and just did everything for free for them. She made a lot of good friends in the law community of Phoenix because of her volunteer work. I think, maybe she was on track to become a Federal Judge. But I don¡¯t know, she didn¡¯t really discuss work, but she had a lot of meetings with politicians and was talking to the district attorney a lot.¡±

    ¡°What about her title and lands?¡±

    ¡°She has a younger brother who fought her in court to inherit everything. Mom wasn¡¯t bitter about it? I don¡¯t know she seemed happy most of the time.¡±

    ¡°A brother? Do you know him well?¡±

    ¡°Honestly no, he treated us like we were second class citizens. And then he got arrested for drug trafficking and money laundering with terrorists. Everything was taken by the British government. Huge scandal but mom¡¯s name never came up, so I guess, you know there is a silver lining?¡±

    Her grandmother looked quite upset.

    ¡°And where is he now?¡±

    ¡°Prison somewhere. I don¡¯t know. I barely knew my cousins and we lost contact afterwards.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have a son grandma?¡±

    ¡°No, your mother was an only child. Your grandfather and I were much too busy for more than one.¡±

    ¡°What happened to your daughter? If¡­ I mean it¡¯s okay to ask.¡±

    ¡°It is fine, it has been a long time. My daughter died fighting a terrorist named Mycilli he killed her. He was her partner with MANA and he killed her when she refused to join him.¡±

    Sarah blinked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­ the article said a car accident¡­¡±

    ¡°Sarah, sometimes what the news reports and what really happens are different here. MANA and Earth Gov don¡¯t like to admit their agents go bad.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Do you think he might go after mom?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it, he hasn¡¯t been heard from in years.¡±

    ¡°Grandma its nearly six, I need to get going or I¡¯ll miss my spotter at the gym.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll call you when your mom wakes up. Have a good day.¡±

    ¡°I love you grandma.¡±

    Her grandmother blushed a bit and hung up. Sarah got up gathered up her work out cloths and kicked off her PJs leaving them in a pile on the floor she walked out in her underwear and blinked when she saw Maria sitting on the common room couch reading a strange looking tablet. Maria looked at her and Sarah did her best to cover herself up with her workout clothes.

    ¡°Sorry didn¡¯t think anyone would be a wake.¡±

    She rushed into the shared bathroom and came out dressed in a hoodie and a pair of long lycra leggings. Campus weather report was showing it was pretty cool outside. She waved to Maria who stood up.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Sarah I would like to show you something.¡±

    Sarah walked over to Maria earbuds in hand.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Maria showed her some text she had highlighted. It was in the same language from the note Carly had shown her last night. It read: My hands had green veins in it as the tree sprung to life where before there had only been rock. It burned like an anathema to my undead form. My mother is safe and so is my long-lost brother. When it is time, I will free them from this tomb, until then the tree shall guard them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°This is my sister Enid¡¯s journal. She was a vampire. She was Eyre¡¯s mother. She described exactly what happened to your hands when you made the tree grow and resurrected the mouse.¡±

    ¡°You remember?¡±

    ¡°Yes, once Ms. Sheppard mentioned it my nieces¡¯ power was broken. It would have broken eventually I am older than her at least physically, so her power is not effective on me as it is on mortals.¡±

    ¡°I remember bringing the mouse back too. What does that mean?¡±

    Maria¡¯s hand stroked her crucifix.

    ¡°I do not know Sarah, maybe my sister is one of your ancestors. She had many children. Thirty at my last count. And she was from Scotland originally. I also found a photograph.¡±

    She tapped around the tablet and showed it to Sarah. It showed a pale red-haired teenager with very green eyes. She wasn¡¯t especially intimidating looking her physique had a lot in common with Sarah¡¯s. At her side was a much taller teenage girl her hair was the same color as Sarah¡¯s and her eyes were an ice blue almost silver. She looked like a female wrestler. The pair dressed in 16<sup>th</sup> century style dresses. And there was a shanty town and tall ships behind them. Sarah blinked if she hadn¡¯t been told differently would swear, she was looking at close relatives.

    ¡°Which one is Enid?¡±

    ¡°The one with red hair.¡±

    ¡°She looks nothing like you.¡±

    ¡°My father rescued her and adopted her. Everything I know about her I am learning from her journal. She was a woman of great conviction and great love. She was also very absolute in her beliefs, so much so it blinded her to the option of mercy.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like the Headmistress.¡±

    ¡°Well Enid was her mother. I believe it would be hard growing up with a mother who was so demanding.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what she meant by mother and brother are safe?¡±

    ¡°I do not. I do not see any reference to a brother in either journal. Some of it is missing though. She did mention that our mother was murdered by Pugmentia in Rome during the Great Fire.¡±

    Sarah rubbed her shoulder. Then glanced at her watch.

    ¡°I need to go Maria.¡±

    ¡°I hope you have a good run.¡±

    Sarah gave her a small salute and went outside did some stretches and began her morning workout routine. Which consisted of a jog to the Athletics complex and free weights in the gym. She managed to get breakfast today which was an improvement. She tried the double dose the doctor had suggested and when it kicked in, she felt more like her usual self or at least medicated self. She waited on the stairs for Ms. Sheppard.

    Carly showed up at 0800 as she said she would and motioned for Sarah to follow her. They had a long trek across campus which Carly made Sarah jog. The old school buildings as they were, had been abandoned near the edge of the original barrier. They were rarely visited for legitimate business or even illegitimate business. They were out of the way and there had been some reports of infestations of magical creatures that had slipped through the wards somehow. They had a mix of red brick buildings and brutalist concrete. Their destination wasn¡¯t inside a building but the old training grounds and magic ranges. There were thirteen senior boys there dressed in athletic wear and five senior girls. They all straightened up as soon as Carly arrived. She looked at Sarah and motioned to the senior students who were now lined up for inspection.

    ¡°Meet this school¡¯s version of the ROTC, these are all aspiring members of the MANA accelerated training program.¡±

    ¡°Senior Cadet Carter.¡±

    A girl came to attention. She had short cropped brown hair and brown eyes. She looked athletic but not as lean as Sarah. Carly looked them all over.

    ¡°Okay troops, you¡¯re probably wondering why your lazy asses were hauled out here instead of to your PT class. This is Sarah. She is from Earth-2, you are going to be assisting me in her unofficial MANA PACPPLT. She wasn¡¯t born here so she did not undergo it at age ten like all of you. It is unofficial because we already know she has powers but the Headmistress would like a better assessment of her abilities so she can receive a better educational experience. This is classified anything you witness, will not be divulged to anyone. If there are any broken bones or bruises, we had a training accident. After we finish here you are to forget this happened. Your PACPPLT results were kept confidential and only released to the Headmistress, this young lady deserves the same protection. Am I clear?¡±

    The all stood at attention and spoke in unison.

    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am!¡±

    ¡°You, sad sacks of shit are actually going to make me cry real tears of joy, look at you doing parade maneuvers with precision and unity. First up is the strength assessment. Carter, assign four cadets to get the firearms testing set up. I will remind you cadets that all your training applies here. Pick two cadets to assist her with her training. And get her weighed in. Anyone not actively assisting with the test will be ensuring the hand-to-hand training arena is in good working order.¡±

    She clapped her hands.

    ¡°Get to it children.¡±

    The cadets started to disperse as their senior cadet assigned them to their different tasks. She and one of the larger boys joined Carly and Sarah. Carly was looking over the testing procedures to make sure they followed the protocols.

    ¡°Okay first up is strength testing. You will now do increasing bench press weights until such time as you cannot lift the bar off your chest. No telekinesis allowed. Carter and Towns will spot you and ensure you do not break your ribs.¡±

    They started at Sarah¡¯s body weight which was around 59 kilograms. So, sixty was her first lift she did it easily. Carly motioned for them to stop.

    ¡°I know the protocols say start at her body weight, but I know she can do ten reps of 100 kilo¡¯s so let¡¯s start at 120 hmm?¡±

    The two cadets looked at each other than Sarah who was staring at Carly.

    ¡°Ms. Sheppard, I have only ever done 115 kilos.¡±

    ¡°Give it a try. You haven¡¯t had to push yourself before.¡±

    Sarah nodded and the two cadets added the weights. Sarah pushed it off the bar with assistance and the two cadets released slowly ready to grab it if something went wrong but it didn¡¯t Sarah managed with to do one rep with it. It wasn¡¯t easy for her, but she did it. The cadets looked at

    each other then added another 5 KG. Sarah lifted that as well. The bumped it up another 5 KG and Sarah lifted that to, though with more difficulty. This was repeated a few more times until she hit her limit at 132 kg. The cadets were impressed at least. Carly noted the weight on the test.

    ¡°Next is the legs.¡±

    Sarah sighed and went through the same process. Everyone came to the conclusion she was strong, but not superhuman. Which was no surprise to Sarah. Next was the firearm proficiency test. Considering Sarah had never had occasion to even touch a firearm she assumed this was going to be terrible. Her inexperience with firearms led to a quick thirty-minute lesson on range and firearm safety as mandated by MANA testing standards. They had assault rifles, pistols and a sniper rifle at their disposal. They were all well maintained. Sarah was hesitant to even touch one once it was loaded. She kept hesitating when she went to pick one up causing Carly to get frustrated.

    ¡°For the love God Sarah you are a PL8, you are more dangerous without one of these then you are with one. Just pick one and let¡¯s get this going. I¡¯m getting gray hair here.¡±

    The cadets were standing around watching. Most had ear protection on. Sarah finally picked up one of the pistols. She turned the safety off as she had been advised and she started shooting. Her body seemed to know what to do and took proper stance and she fired off the entire clip. Six center of mass, six in the head. She flicked the safety without thinking and put it down gingerly.

    ¡°Beginner¡¯s luck?¡±

    The cadets did their safe range procedures going through the motions of making sure all guns were down and one ran out and brought it back the target. Carly quirked an eyebrow.

    ¡°I¡¯m have to qualify every year and my rating isn¡¯t this good. Jesus. Sarah this isn¡¯t about impressing anyone if you spent time at the range, you could have told us and saved half an hour.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I have never touched a gun in my life. I mean I¡¯ve shot them in video games but¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay let¡¯s make sure it¡¯s not a fluke set up again next target over. Same pistol. Carter, reload the pistol please. Sarah, please keep your shots in center of mass, that is where they are scored.¡±

    Sarah picked up the semi-automatic pistol and fired off twelve shots again. All of the shots were in a small cluster in the center. The tablet that was recording confirmed twelve shots and twelve hits on target. The target was brought back to the group. Carly took a picture of the target, and the app was able to confirm twelve separate 10 point shots.

    ¡°Now the assault rifle. You have ninety rounds. Three magazines, semi-automatic, burst fire and fully automatic. If at any point you don¡¯t feel safe cease fire put your weapon down and step away. If you get a jam, you are to clear it and continue like you were shown. You have two minutes to fire as many round as you can. Go.¡±

    Sarah picked up the assault rifle with more confidence. She fired off thirty single round shots at the first target. Moved to the second target and fired off ten three round bursts. She moved the last

    target and fired six five round bursts unwilling to just hold the trigger down. She popped the last magazine out. Put it on the table switch on the safety and put the rifle down with the barrel pointing down range. She¡¯d finished in under a minute. The targets all came back with perfect shot clusters except the fully automatic which was still densely packed but also unavoidably more spread.

    ¡°Well Sarah, you are at peak human performance for assault rifle and pistol, based on this performance the test says the sniper rifle testing is redundant. It predicts the same results.¡±

    Sarah nodded. The whole experience felt strange. It¡¯s like her body and mind knew just what to do like it had done it a hundred times before. She had experienced it with marital arts and sports. Muscle memory was a hell of a thing, but she had never touched a gun before.

    ¡°Well next is hand to hand assessment. Which of you cadets would like to volunteer to go a few rounds with Sarah here?¡±

    One of the boys held up his hand. Carly poked him in the chest.

    ¡°What is the rule I taught you tubby losers on the first day of training?¡±

    ¡°Never volunteer for anything ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°At least you were listening. You two get to it. No face hits. Full speed, full strength. I want to see control and I want to see bruises, or this isn¡¯t a valid test.¡±

    Sarah was fairly confident with this test; She had spent two years training in two separate martial arts she was also taller than her opponent which gave her reach. She tried hitting him a few times being aggressive as she usually was in a sparring match, but he blocked countered her. She started to watch how he moved and judge his strengths. He attacked her a few times after about five minutes of back and forth she had a good judge of how to take him down. She feinted with one of the strikes she had tried a few times he tried to counter, and she kicked him hard in the ribs he went down gasping for breath. Sarah¡¯s next strike was a knee towards his face, but she stopped with the fabric of her leggings touching his nose. He held up his hand. One of the other cadets rushed over and checked him out.

    ¡°He¡¯s fine. Nothing broken.¡±

    Carly made some notes.

    ¡°Two volunteers please.¡±

    No one stepped forward after watching Sarah nearly break the first cadet¡¯s ribs.

    ¡°Carter, pick two.¡±

    She picked one of the girls and one of the boys to go up against Sarah. They got in a few good hits Sarah was used to the hits from Kung Fu where there was no padding. She used the fact there were two of them against them. Their attacks weren¡¯t well synchronized, so she parried several attacks and when the chance was right, she grabbed the boy¡¯s arm when he tried to strike her used him as a shield and he took a solid blow to his stomach. He was trying to double over and looked like he was going to throw up, but she kept him in the arm lock hold. Keeping him between her and his partner. She eventually got tired of struggling with him, so she kicked him in the back of the knees, and he went down she released his arm and he tapped out rolling around holding his gut and his arm. Sarah had already determined how to beat the female part of the pair. She would expose herself when she kicked. Sarah waited for the kick and swept the other leg and punched her hard in the thigh and she went down holding her leg. Sarah¡¯s next strike would have broken her nose if she had connected but she stopped short the girl tapped out.

    Carly made some more notes. And held up four fingers to Carter. She picked four more cadets to get onto the dirt training platform. They surrounded her and she could defend against two of them but the other two would get hits on her and she took a bit of a beating. She refused to tap out. She felt like she was fighting against her body it wanted to do one thing and her martial arts training wanted to do another. So, when they made another attack Sarah decided to stop resisting just do what her body felt like it should. This time she was able to dodge the two attacks behind which she wouldn¡¯t have thought of doing she grabbed one of their arms and with a foot sweep was able to turn them into a weapon against the teammate on the opposite side the pair were in a tangled heap. She did an open-faced palm strike on the one to her front and lept up and did a double foot kick at the one coming from behind. She rolled past the one that she had hit with a palm strike and now all four were on the same side of her. Three of them attacked her at once while the one she had hit with a double kick was trying to catch her breath and rubbing her chest where the blow had landed. Sarah did another Aikido throw on the largest one that was coming the fastest he went flying and skidded across the dirt she blocked a blow for the other one while bringing her heel down on the last girl¡¯s thigh hard enough the girl went down clutching it and rolling. She spun around with a foot sweep and using the momentum of her last attacker, a larger boy she sent him flying and he skidded along the ground and rolled out of the ring and into the grass. She was left standing with all four of the cadets groaning on the ground holding various limbs and body parts.

    The cadets who had not been in the training arena were wincing as they watched their fellow team members take blow after blow. Carly wrote down some more notes.

    ¡°The rest of you in.¡±

    Carter walked to Carly.

    ¡°Major, she¡¯s fourteen. She¡¯s already going to be black, and blue do we need to do more?¡±

    ¡°Test says we go until she taps out or is knocked out. Sarah? Are you okay to continue?¡±

    Sarah put her fists together and bowed.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not done yet, so neither are you lot.¡±

    Sarah stretched as she waited for Carter to decide whether she was going to stop this and risk Carly¡¯s wrath or just get it done. Sarah for her part was excited unlike firearms martial arts was something she enjoyed. It was physical competition. She felt a bit bad for the various cadets who were sitting on the grass with ice on various body parts, but she wanted to see how far she could go. Carter finally motioned for the rest of the cadets that were still standing to join her. Carly folded her hands behind her back.

    ¡°Cadets do not go easy on her; She hasn¡¯t been going easy on you. She¡¯s a tough girl she can take a few hits. I saw her take a bullet. I am guessing none of you can say the same. Proceed.¡±

    The resulting fight looked like something out of a movie with one protagonist decimating a room full of bad guys. Sarah took a few hits to the face just by virtue of all the people there. None were enough to break anything or to knock any teeth loose. When it was done there were eleven cadets including Carter on the ground. A couple were unconscious because they didn¡¯t know when they¡¯d had enough. Sarah had a cut above her eye and a swollen lip. She would probably be bruised for days with her pale skin. The cadets that hadn¡¯t been involved were assessing the damage to their comrades. There were three broken bones and a few bruised ribs. Some of the bruised ribs were Sarah¡¯s, Carly made some notes. In the test.

    ¡°Okay Cadets go to the Med Center get patched up. Remember, ¡®training accident¡¯, I¡¯ll make sure you all get commendations for spending time assisting Junior students in their learning.¡±

    Sarah shook several of their hands. Most seemed to have no hard feelings towards her. She didn¡¯t have any towards them. The pain hadn¡¯t really set in yet. She was still flush with the thrill of the fight and competition. In about two hours when she went to get up from class after sitting for an hour and a half, she would have instant regret.

    ¡°Sarah, you should probably head there too. Training accident.¡±

    Sarah nodded and shuffled off with the cadets who were heading towards the medical center. Carter and a few other cadets who weren¡¯t injured started gathering up the equipment. Carly reviewed the videos and test results. Sarah had scored high in Physical Aptitude and Combat training. So high that she was recommended for immediate recruitment. Which basically was MANA¡¯s way of saying get them while they are young and impressionable. Carter approached Carly.

    ¡°Yes Cadet?¡±

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, message received. We will work harder.¡±

    Carly quirked an eyebrow.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We understand now how much harder we have to train. Getting a MANA Agent to school us is impressive. I assume she does undercover work at high schools?¡±

    Carly laughed.

    ¡°No, she is 14 years old she is in Grade 9 at this school. This really was to test her at the Headmistress¡¯s request.¡±

    ¡°With respect ma¡¯am, why isn¡¯t she in the MANA advanced training program? Anyone with test scores like hers should be on the short list.¡±

    ¡°Because this test wasn¡¯t official and is going to stay unofficial. Senior Cadet. We were attacked trying to retrieve that girl by supers on Earth-2. No one but MANA knew about her. There is a leak, so this is why this is to be kept secret. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Understood ma¡¯am. We will keep her secret.¡±

    ¡°Good job Cadet. You are dismissed.¡±

 Earth 3 - 2026 - The Twilight Forest

    Sarah sat across from one of the girls from the test.  She had broken her arm. In the heat of the moment, she was excited to be in the fight, now she was feeling pangs of guilt looking at the damage she had done.  They were alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°For what? Accidents happen in training all the time.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry it happened.¡±

    Sarah smiled and winced when her split lip curved upwards.  The girl laughed.

    ¡°Training accidents sure suck.  My name is Kyla.¡±

    Sarah nodded and kicked her legs a bit. Glancing up at the older girl.  Who smirked at her.  A nurse came in.  Looked at Kyla.

    ¡°How¡¯s the pain?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m great.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s probably time for us to set it and heal it.¡±

    Sarah waved to her. Waiting for someone to come and get her.  Out of everyone she had the least severe injuries.  She waited for half an hour more and she glanced at the wrist band for her holo-tablet and realized if she didn¡¯t get moving, she would miss lunch and her Beginner¡¯s magic class.  She stood up and suffered instant regret.  The stiffness had set in and the entire left side of her abdomen and chest ached.  She shook it off, which is to say she just kept walking.  She was almost out of the clinic when a nurse blocked her path.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going young lady?  You haven¡¯t been looked at yet.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay, I¡¯m going to be late for lunch and class.¡±

    ¡°We will be the judge of that.¡±

    Sarah tried to dodge past her but ended up just kind of shifting bit as more pain ran through her entire body.  She whimpered and put her hand on the reception desk.

    ¡°You¡¯re okay, are you?  You can barely walk.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, really ma¡¯am.  I¡¯ve had worse.¡±

    ¡°No, you are staying here until a doctor can take a look.¡±

    She pointed to one of the examination rooms that had recently become empty.  She escorted Sarah inside and helped her onto the examination bed and put a blood pressure cuff around her arm.  To say the pain was excruciating would be an understatement.  Sarah¡¯s body was basically one big bruise now.

    ¡°So, what happened to you?¡±

    Sarah tried to smile as she spoke, but it turned into a weird wince-smile-thing.  She looked at her reflection in the polished metal of the storage cabinet doors.

    ¡°Training accident.¡±

    ¡°A lot of those today.  What were you practicing?¡±

    ¡°Trust falls, it didn¡¯t go as planned.¡±

    The nurse shook her head and took Sarah¡¯s pulse and checked her breathing.  Which was not as good as it should be.  Her ribs felt like someone had driven over her so there was a great deal of pain if she inhaled too deeply.  The nurse frowned.  As she entered cause of injuries as training accident.

    ¡°A doctor will be in to see you shortly.¡±

    She muttered to herself as she left the room.

    ¡°Training accident my arse.¡±

    Sarah sat there for another ten minutes before the door was knocked on and opened.  The doctor who came in was a woman.  She was older she was looking at a tablet and looked up at Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah MacCloud?¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Training accident.  Pain when you breath. Second time you¡¯ve been to the clinic in two days.  Are you going to be one of our frequent flyers?¡±

    Sarah shrugged and winced regretting the movement instantly.

    ¡°I might be. I tend to take competition very seriously.¡±

    ¡°Okay well let¡¯s get your top and leggings off so we can see what you¡¯ve done to yourself this time hmm?¡±

    Sarah cautiously pulled off her top which was spandex so it was a painful process. She stood up and did the same for her leggings.  The doctor looked at her injuries and started making notes on the tablet she had in her hands.  She poked Sarah gently in a few spots which in one case caused Sarah to cry out as much as she tried to resist it.

    ¡°Hmm.  Nurse says you got these in a training accident?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is exactly right.¡±

    The doctor quirked an eyebrow.

    ¡°I have had several training accidents come through today that look strangely like blunt force trauma received in a fist fight.¡±

    ¡°Wow, what a funny coincidence.¡±

    The doctor sighed.  Made some more notes.

    ¡°Well, I have good news for you, it looks like one of your ribs isn¡¯t bruised.¡±

    Sarah laughed and instantly clutched her side.

    ¡°I suspect you have several deep muscle bruises as well.  You will need to get some x-rays done so we can ensure you haven¡¯t broken anything.  Also, a CT-Scan I can¡¯t tell if you have tenderness in your abdomen because of a muscle bruise or you have internal bleeding.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯ve had worse.  I can just go to class I will be okay in a few days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent messages to your afternoon and tomorrow mornings teachers and your dorm mother to advise them that I¡¯ve admitted it you for overnight observation.  You can attend classes remotely. We don¡¯t take chances with the health of our students here.¡±

    Sarah groaned.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get you sorted as quickly as we can and if you have no life-threatening injuries, you can go back to class tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°So, no healing magic?¡±

    ¡°If you had superficial scrapes and bruises it would be easy to heal, but these are deep tissue injuries.  I¡¯m sure with two of your grandparents being PL15 mages, and one a respected doctor you had healing magic on tap at home, unfortunately we have only one PL15 Life mage on staff and he is knee deep in broken bones for our MANA ATP kids who are also part our defenses here, so they get priority and if your wounds aren¡¯t life-threatening and are just painful there is no reason for him to use his energy on you when we can just give you painkillers to take the edge off until you¡¯re healed.¡±

    ¡°How do you know who my grandparents are?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re your emergency contacts Sarah and have very recognizable names. Dr. MacDonald has been advised that you came in with some injuries and that we will update him when we have more information.  He is the one who requested we do the CT-Scan and the x-rays.¡±

    Sarah frowned.

    ¡°I wished you had called Nan she would have told you to let me suffer.¡±

    ¡°He was the one who answered the phone.¡±

    Sarah nodded. The doctor left the examination room.  Sarah was handed a hospital gown and a robe and wheel chaired to the radiology department.  What followed was two hours of being zapped with radiation and waiting around before she was taken to a room and moved to a bed. While she was being moved around and waiting, she¡¯d done her best to attend the basic magic spells class remotely.  She could learn the theory but because she was in the hospital, she wasn¡¯t allowed to actually try the light spell.

    Sarah looked around her room it was sparse and as far as she knew a typical hospital room.  She hadn¡¯t had much cause to be in them while conscious. Her call indicator started flashing so she answered it.  It was her grandfather.  The stuffy doctor grandfather.  He looked slightly displeased.

    ¡°Sarah, would you care to explain to me how you managed to bruise twenty-three of your ribs in a training accident?  Or let¡¯s go with the simpler how you managed to bruise at least one of every major muscle group?¡±

    ¡°You should see the other guy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not amused.  The fact you don¡¯t have some form of major internal bleeding with injuries like this is a miracle.¡±

    He was looking through something on his computer screen.

    ¡°You are enough to drive a man to drink.¡±

    ¡°Sorry grandpa I¡¯ll be more careful.  I just don¡¯t know when to stop trying to win.¡±

    ¡°Well, young lady, you have limits.  You need to be aware of them.¡±

    ¡°Yes grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Good, now how are you feeling?  Did they get you pain medication?  When will they have you healed up?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sore, but the medication is working, and based on what the doctor said, a month, maybe six weeks I¡¯ll be fully healed.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t going to heal you with magic?¡±

    ¡°Well, the only have one mage who can do it and he¡¯s healing the¡­ MANA ATP cadets from umm a training accident too.  They were way worse off than me. Glad I¡¯m not doing their training.  Its fine grandpa, I have been banged up before from hockey, this is nothing.¡±

    ¡°Well, we shall see about that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really alright grandpa, it¡¯s just part of being athletic.  You get hurt sometimes.¡±

    ¡°And what about these bullet fragments in your shoulder?  Training accident?¡±

    Sarah blinked.

    ¡°Umm, I thought¡­ well umm.  I was shot on Earth-2 by a man who thought I¡¯d hurt his daughter.  I thought we got the bullet out¡­or I was told we did.¡±

    ¡°Well, a bullet or fragments are fine if you heal normally but they interfere with magical healing.  Your shoulder is still showing signs of the bullet wound even if it looks fine on the surface.  I¡¯m going to recommend they open you up and then heal the injury properly, along with the rest of your injuries.  I¡¯m not sure what those butchers do on Earth-2 but here we heal things properly.¡±

    ¡°Really I don¡¯t want to cause problems.¡±

    ¡°Well either they heal you or I will demand they fly you out so I can do so.¡±

    Sarah sighed softly.  Grandparents.  She loved them to death but so worried about her.

    ¡°Grandpa how¡¯s mom?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still in a coma, she is stable.  I did everything I could now it¡¯s just on her to wake up.¡±

    Sarah frowned slightly.

    ¡°I wish I had noticed sooner.¡±

    ¡°No, this was not your fault.  You are not a doctor how could you recognize the signs?¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    She heard his phone ringing.

    ¡°I will talk to you later Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Bye grandpa.¡±

    She hung up the call and stared at the ceiling.  She heard his voice again.  The blond-haired boy.

    ¡°Red hair, how¡­ you.  You look like you just finished a training session with Amara after you skipped off with Mariana.¡±

    ¡°Do they not have some rule against random people barging into people¡¯s hospital rooms?¡±

    He chuckled.

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    ¡°Go away.¡±

    ¡°Do you really want me to go away, Sarah?  That is what you¡¯re going by these days isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Sarah grabbed the button for calling a nurse.  The thing that vexed her most is she didn¡¯t really want him to leave.  She felt like he should be there with her.  No, he¡¯s just some obnoxious cute boy!

    ¡°I will press the call button.¡±

    ¡°If you feel you must, if I was bored and stuck in a room like this, I might want company.  You always were a bit of a loner though.  Doing things your own way, just you against the world.¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    She pressed the call button.  He smiled at her and shook his head. When the door opened a nurse came in Sarah hadn¡¯t seen her before, Sarah pointed in the direction the boy.

    ¡°Can you please get him out of here?¡±

    The nurse looked where Sarah was pointing and had a look of confusion on her face.  Sarah followed her gaze and saw nothing there.

    ¡°I swear he was right there.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, maybe we should take a look at how much of the pain killer we gave you.¡±

    She pulled out a tablet and tapped at it a few times.  She paused glanced up at Sarah then down at the tablet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let the doctor know.¡±

    The nurse left and Sarah threw her hands up in the air and then regrated the movement as pain shot though every corner of her body.

    ¡°That hurt.¡±

    She laid her head back and closed her eyes. The meds were making her drowsy even with her ADHD meds in her.  She woke when the doctor touched her shoulder.

    ¡°Sarah?¡±

    Sarah blinked drowsily and rubbed her eyes wincing in pain.

    ¡°Sarah, do you have any head pain?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°A nurse said you saw¡­ well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I must have been out of it from the pain meds.¡±

    The doctor pulled up a chair that was in the room for visitors and sat down.

    ¡°Tell me about this boy you saw.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not.  It could be a sign you have a brain injury Sarah.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve seen him. I¡¯m okay.  Just a wild imagination.¡±

    The doctor frowned.

    ¡°Okay, well you¡¯ve been scheduled for emergency surgery.  Your grandfather was right.  The healing that was used on you was sloppy.  The bullet fragments prevented it from being done right.  We need to remove them and heal you properly. It looks like you tore it up more today with whatever happened to you.  So, in about fifteen minutes we¡¯ll give you something, you¡¯ll go to sleep and then when you wake up, you¡¯ll be fully healed.¡±

    She patted Sarah¡¯s shoulder gently.  Sarah drifted off again.  When she woke next, she was in the twilight forest.  Massive silver trees rose out of the ground around her.  Their leaves were blue.  She had an overwhelming sense of peace.  She walked towards the feeling of peace it grew stronger and she stood before hanging vines.  Above them a massive tree that looked natural. It did not belong in these magical woods.  She pushed past the vines and there was a round granite capstone laying against a small rockface.  Where her hand touched blue runes etched along its edges flared to life.  She understood the runes, but they made no sense to her. It was like gibberish she could feel the meaning on the edge of her perception, but she could see it.  She felt the emptiness clearly it had been there her whole life.  Like she was missing half of her soul. She had never felt whole.  She felt the part she was missing past the capstone.  She traced the runes, if she could just understand what they meant.  She could feel power here immense power.  Like she was in touch with the whole natural world around her.  As she stared at the runes something started to take shape, she could taste it, it was right there.  Then she was ripped away from it she screamed out no.  The answer was so close.

    Sarah¡¯s eyes opened wide.  She was in the hospital room she had been in before.  A nurse rushed in checked her vitals.  The nurse held Sarah down.

    ¡°Sarah, Sarah.¡±

    Sarah stopped struggling she sighed.

    ¡°I was so close.¡±

    ¡°So close to what Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Finding out who I am.¡±

    The nursed Sarah who rubbed her forehead and shook her head.  It had felt so real.  Sarah looked outside.  It was dark already.  She checked her wrist for her holo-tablet it was gone.  She was still in a daze.  She touched her forehead again.

    ¡°Sarah your surgery went fine.  You are fully healed, it¡¯s just the anesthetic wearing off.¡±

    Sarah looked down at her arms again and noticed the bruises were gone.

    ¡°Surgery?¡±

    ¡°To remove the bullet fragments that prevented your shoulder from healing from the last time someone tried to magically heal you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s done already?¡±

    The nurse smiled.

    ¡°Yes.  You were asleep when they purged your system of toxins and put you under.  Are you feeling alright now?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her face again.

    ¡°I just had a weird dream.¡±

    ¡°Okay, once your head clears, you¡¯ll be able to go back to your dorm room.¡±

    ¡°Where is my¡­¡±

    Sarah tapped her wrist the name for the device escaping her in her post-surgery daze.  The nurse opened a drawer and handed the holo-tablet to Sarah.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The nurse patted her shoulder gently and nodded.  Sarah strapped it on and dialed a number after the nurse left.  It rang a few times before her father picked up.  She didn¡¯t use a video call.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Dad?¡±

    ¡°Oh my God, Sarah!  How are you?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her face again.  Realizing she probably sounded stoned out of mind.

    ¡°Dad, I¡¯m good, I just¡­¡±

    ¡°Sarah are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I just got out of surgery, I forgot to call you.  I¡¯m sorry, Mom¡­mom tried to¡­¡±

    ¡°Surgery for what?¡±

    ¡°The bullet left fragments, so the healing didn¡¯t work right. I¡¯m fine, its mom.  She tried to kill herself.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°She took some pills.  She¡¯s in a coma but she¡¯s stable.  I just thought you should know.¡±

    ¡°Where is she?  What hospital?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know dad she¡¯s in Glasgow somewhere.  Grandpa knows. I¡¯m going to go now dad; Just thought you should know.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, wa-.¡±

    Sarah hung up without letting him finish.  She was still so mad at him hearing his voice made her want to hit something.  Her head was starting to clear up now. There were a pair jogging pants and a t-shirt and a hoodie folded beside her bed, there was also a set of underwear for her.  And her work out clothes were in a bag along with her old underwear. She started pulling the new clothes she was provided with and tugged her runners on. She hopped off of the bed and walked a few steps back and forth to make sure she wasn¡¯t dizzy before leaving the room.  The nurse noticed her.

    ¡°Sarah you should still be in bed.¡±

    Sarah waved her hand dismissively.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just want to get back to my dorm room.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t discharge you until you¡¯ve been assessed by a doctor.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just scan my thingy and let the Doctor AI, do it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Sarah waved her wrist band over the scanner and the nurse nodded.

    ¡°Well, the computer says your cognitive functions are okay to go to your dorm room.  It has said you should stay there until breakfast tomorrow.  No work out so basically it has set a fence up around it, so I suggest you follow its instructions.¡±

    Sarah signed and nodded. She went down to the train station. It had a few staff from the hospital waiting to head to their residence. Sarah paced back and forth hoping the physical activity

    would clear the remnants of the haze from her head.  She kept seeing the stone disk but couldn¡¯t make out the runes.  The train finally arrived, and she got on.  The residence for the hospital staff was closer than her dorm.  She was left alone she leaned back and rubbed her face and eyes.  Her thoughts were still sluggish to come. The train stopped at another station. She opened her eyes again; She saw the blonde boy sitting across from her. He had his usual half-grin/half-smirk on his face.  She felt her usual sense of belonging and gut-wrenching attraction to him.  She rolled her eyes.

    ¡°How do you keep appearing everywhere?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know.¡±

    ¡°Why are you bothering me?¡±

    ¡°Am I though?¡±

    ¡°Just tell me what you want!¡±

    Sarah clenched her fists, and the train shook as a wave of force bust from her.

    ¡°Slow down tiger you just woke up from surgery.¡±

    Sarah looked at her hands the blue veins that had flared to life started retreating. She rubbed them the burning slowly subsided.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you but somehow you make me want to break things.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almost like we¡¯re an old married couple who can bring out the best and the worst in each other.¡±

    ¡°Look I¡¯m not going to play your game.  Are you working for those guys that tried to grab me?¡±

    ¡°No, the only person I¡¯m working for is you.¡±

    ¡°You make no sense.  Why do you never appear when anyone else is around?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    He stood and walked across the car and sat beside her.

    ¡°You¡¯re like the creepiest boy I have ever met.  Go stalk someone else.  Or I will hurt you.¡±

    ¡°Sarah, yes that¡¯s the name, so strange calling you that.  Sarah I am here for you, I always have been and always will be.¡±

    Sarah pushed away along the bench.  The train stopped and she ran off watching it zoom off with the boy waving to her. She ran through the station and up the stairs to the surface.  She was out front of the boy¡¯s dorm.  She walked towards her building and kept looking behind her.  She rushed along the foot path and found herself bumping into someone when she glanced behind her just before turning a corner.  She recognized his voice and smell immediately.  It was Misha.  He spoke to her in Russian.

    ¡°Sarah? Is everything okay?¡±

    ¡°Hi Misha, sorry I just thought someone was following me.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    He looked behind her stepping between her and whoever might be there.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone; Do you have a reason to think someone is following you?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her arms and glanced back.

    ¡°I¡­ there is this boy that keeps showing up when I¡¯m alone.  He¡¯s really creepy?  Obsessed?  I don¡¯t know. He just won¡¯t leave me be.¡±

    ¡°Where did you see him last?¡±

    ¡°He got on the train when I was alone at the senior¡¯s dorm, and I ran off as soon as I could he was still on the train when I left it but he just seems to come and go as he pleases.¡±

    ¡°What does he look like?¡±

    ¡°Blonde hair, cute, fourteen, blue eyes, super cute¡±

    ¡°Do you have a name?¡±

    ¡°He said it once, but I don¡¯t remember.¡±

    Misha took out his phone and opened an app and tapped something then put it to his ear.  He spoke English.

    ¡°This is Major Guren, I want team to investigate the subway heading towards west side of campus.  There may be a boy on it that is causing trouble.  Let me know what you find.¡±

    He hung up and motioned for Sarah to follow him.  He spoke in Russian again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll escort you home.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Misha.¡±

    ¡°You have my card.  You see that boy again you call me right away.  Try and get a picture if you can.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I hear you had a training accident today.  Everything okay?¡±

    Sarah smiled and wiped up some tears.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°You look healed, must have been bad if they used magic.¡±

    ¡°No, I was shot on Earth-2 and there were fragments left, so the healing magic that was used on me there didn¡¯t work right.  They had to pull the fragments out and heal me again.  My training injuries just got healed because of that.  They weren¡¯t bad, only some bruised ribs.¡±

    ¡°That good.  Wouldn¡¯t want my star recruit hurt.¡±

    Sarah laughed.

    ¡°You don¡¯t give up.¡±

    ¡°I am Russian, if we gave up easily, we would have moved someplace warmer long time ago.¡±

    Sarah giggled.

    ¡°Sarah, I am here for you.  Whether or not you decide to come to Russia.  You remind me of your daughter.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yea?¡±

    ¡°She is starting her next week.  I guess someone pulled some strings.¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any powers, but this is the best school in the world.¡±

    He snapped his fingers and started patting around the pockets of his combat pants.  He found an envelope.

    ¡°Yes, I have a letter from the president for you.¡±

    He offered the letter to Sarah.

    ¡°I have filed my reports on possible new recruits and apparently your story had an impact on him, and he sent this in diplomatic pouch.¡±

    Sarah took the letter. Adjusting her hair and blushing slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not all that special I¡¯m actually sort of terrible at life.¡±

    ¡°Well, it is in everyone¡¯s best interest that young talent like yours isn¡¯t corrupted by more militant parties.¡±

    Sarah nodded again and put the letter in the front pouch of the school hoodie she was wearing. She started looking around and realized in her haste to leave the train she¡¯d left her bag of clothes and her ear buds behind in the bag.

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°I just left my bag with my clothes on the train.  It had my ear buds in it damn it.¡±

    ¡°I will find it if I can.¡±

    The pair arrived in front of the dorm.  Misha swiped his card and opened the door for her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll drop it off with Major Sheppard when we find it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Misha, I appreciate the escort home.¡±

    ¡°Good night.  And don¡¯t worry about boy I¡¯ll make sure he understands how to behave more respectfully.¡±

    Sarah waved and walked inside the dorm.  She stopped by the cafeteria area and used her holo-tablet wristband to purchase a soda and a sandwich from the vending machine.  She walked up to her room and found the common room was alive with conversation.  She waved to them and headed to her room not really up to dealing with other human beings when she opened her door, she saw the bag she had left on the train sitting on her bed.  She started looking around her room immediately but found no one except a tired looking Sir Gallant who had awoken at her abrupt entrance.  She went into the common room.

    ¡°Who dropped the bag off for me?¡±

    The girls looked at each other.

    ¡°Bag?¡±

    ¡°The plastic bag from the hospital?  How could you not see someone come in and go into my room?¡±

    Amee looked annoyed.

    ¡°Sarah chill.  We didn¡¯t see or hear anything.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s right there on my bed, how else did it get there?¡±

    Amee walked to her door and looked at what Sarah was pointing at.

    ¡°Sarah, you are kind of¡­ forgetful, are you sure you didn¡¯t bring it in and forget you, had it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got fucking ADHD;  Not dementia!¡±

    Amee held up her hands.

    ¡°Maybe talk to us when you aren¡¯t going to be a super-bitch.¡±

    Amee walked away.  Sarah bit her thumb nail pacing back and forth staring at the bag.  She finally grabbed Misha¡¯s card from her nightstand and called him.

    ¡°Sarah? What is wrong?¡±

    ¡°I found the bag in my room; He was in my room.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything. We are on our way.¡±

    Sarah continued to pace staring at the bag chewing her thumb nail.  It took ten minutes before there was a knock on the door and Misha was there with two more of the security detail for the campus.  Amee let them in, and Misha put his hand on Sarah¡¯s shoulder. She had tears on her face. He motioned for the two women with him to go check the room out. They checked the whole room and came back to Misha shaking their heads.  Sarah pointed at the beg.

    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy, I didn¡¯t have it with me.  I forgot it on the train.¡±

    ¡°I know Sarah.  You did not have it when I brought you home.¡±

    He pulled on a pair of gloves and took her ear buds out and put them on her nightstand.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to take everything else with us, see what we can find out about him.  Maybe he can turn invisible or phase through things. We¡¯ll sort it out.¡±

    Sarah was still in tears and stood at the doorway.

    ¡°He was in my room.  How can I sleep here and feel safe?¡±

    Maria spoke up.

    ¡°You can use my bed.  I will watch your room tonight.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Maria approached her and put her arm around Sarah¡¯s back and hugged her.  She led Sarah to her room. Amee looked like she wanted to say something to Sarah.  Sarah glared at her.  Amee sighed and sat back down.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - The Two Sarahs

    ¡°See there it is again.¡±

    Eyre pointed at Sarah¡¯s vitals that were showing in sync with the training videos.

    ¡°When she is shooting, her heart rate is steady, no increase when the bullet fires.  Her adrenaline levels are not heightened at all.  There, heart rate back up when she puts the gun down.¡±

    ¡°Is that why the test didn¡¯t want the sniper rifle test?¡±

    ¡°It is probably why it said it wasn¡¯t necessary.  The sniper test is more about her breathing then if she can hit a target.  She¡¯s been shooting before she has to have been.  You don¡¯t get that kind of calm on first time shooters.  You never do.¡±

    ¡°I noticed the same thing on the fighting tests, first two fights she was normal, heart rate increased, adrenaline increased.  Then about halfway through the four attackers everything just leveled off.  Her breathing was measured, her heart rate steady.  No twitchiness. Just calm steady rhythm.  The fight with eleven attackers was the same.  Honestly, I have never seen someone so calm in a fight especially when taking that many hits.¡±

    ¡°She was taking martial arts before she came here.¡±

    ¡°Karate, one style of kung-fu.  The computer identified at least twenty different styles of Hand-to-Hand.  Look at the video.  She¡¯s way better then she has any right to be.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve seen it before some people¡¯s superpower is just that, they are naturally skilled with weapons or hand to hand.  It¡¯s not abnormal.¡±

    ¡°The only one who presented her anywhere near a challenge was Amanda Carter.  Who is one of those people, faster, stronger, natural combatant.  And even then, Carter got in a few good hits, but Sarah adapted to her abilities and started using her strength against her.  She¡¯s peak physical condition for a fourteen-year-old girl.  Nothing super about that, she works out daily.  But to have that much combat ability at her age.  Something is definitely strange.¡±

    ¡°What bothers me is that some of these styles are unknown.  Four of them.  What about the Atlantean?¡±

    Carly put the necklace down on the desk.

    ¡°I did your language test.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°She passed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.  It means she¡¯s just using magic without realizing it.¡±

    ¡°Look, I think we¡¯re dealing with two different Sarah¡¯s here.  One has trouble regulating her emotions.  Is your average teenage girl.  The other can only be described calmly efficient. I had my government do some digging on her.  Yesterday I watched about sixty hours of video of her playing sports.  There is no hesitation, no freak outs, no outbursts, no tears.  Just the same as she was in the green house video, and when firing the guns and when I stressed her in the combat test.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying she has multiple personality disorder?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I¡¯m just saying if you watch enough video of her you can tell. The green house one is the biggest tell though.  You can just watch her one second, she is a scared twelve-year-old girl.  The next she is fully in control of her emotions, she¡¯s calm, she seems to know exactly what to do with her abilities.  Like she¡¯s been using them all her life. And that man, she was fully aware of what she was doing with those plants, she was torturing and killing him. So, if that is multiple personality disorder that I guess that is what it is.  I really don¡¯t know you¡¯re the one who has messed with her mind.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t really, I can¡¯t see her thoughts.  We might have to get a trusted mind reader to breach protocols to figure out what is going on with her.¡±

    She paused when there was a knock on her door.  She hit a key and her screen was showing student attendance records.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    Misha opened the door and walked in.  Carly nodded to him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye on the attendance Headmistress¡±

    She turned to leave.  Misha shook his head.

    ¡°Carly you should stay I¡¯ve just found something disturbing, and it involves one of your girls.¡±

    Carly turned back and he moved the video from his tablet to the big screen in the office.  On the video was Sarah riding one of the subway cars.  Across from her was a blob of digital static that was roughly the shape and size of a student.  It seemed to be talking to Sarah who was getting upset the video completely broke down then came back. The blob moved across the car and sat beside Sarah who pushed away from it and then when the car stopped, she rushed out.  The blob seemed to notice she forget her bag and picked it up.  Once in its possession the bag became the same digital static and then it vanished through the side of the car.  The video switched to the subway station.  It moved up the stairs.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know.  I have the computer searching for other instances of it appearing.¡±

    ¡°How did you find out about this?¡±

    ¡°I ran into Sarah last night on the footpaths she looked upset, scared, said someone was following her, I didn¡¯t see anyone so I thought she just might be stressed but she mentioned a boy on the train. So pulled the video and found it.  I thought that was the end of it, but she had said she left her bag on the train and then I got a call from her, her bag was in her room.  She was complaining he was showing up all over the place when she was alone.  Now I see how, he can phase through walls.¡±

    ¡°Jesus. No wonder she¡¯s been so off balance.¡±

    ¡°Did she say anything to you?¡±

    Carly shook her head at Eyre.

    ¡°I had no idea.¡±

    ¡°Major Guren, I will allocate whatever security and computer resources you need; I want every single instance where this¡­ entity has shown up on campus.¡±

    ¡°Sarah said he was wearing a school uniform. Could it be a student?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°We have no one who can phase currently enrolled. It¡¯s a rare power.¡±

    ¡°I will get you a report on sightings as soon as possible.¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°Thank you, Major. I¡¯ll wait for your report.¡±

    Carly and Misha walked out of the office together.  Carly looked up at him.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t think I should be notified someone had entered my dorm without authorization last night?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to say anything until, I was sure.¡±

    ¡°Were you protecting Sarah from me?  Are you getting soft?¡±

    ¡°No, just didn¡¯t want to risk getting you on high alert if it was just her being forgetful.¡±

    ¡°You need to get better at lying.¡±

    Carly shook her head.

    ¡°I have class, good luck with your ghost hunt.¡±

    Misha nodded and Carly walked towards the Grade 9 classrooms.

    *****

    Sarah woke up and checked her messages.  She frowned when it displayed that there were zero new messages.  She stretched and walked to her own room.  Maria was sitting in her desk chair staring at the door.  She looked like she was a corpse until she started moving.  Sarah had seen it before but still caused her a to jump slightly.  Maria smiled.

    ¡°Good morning, Sarah.  No one entered the room last night.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being such a pain.  I appreciate this, Maria.¡±

    ¡°I do not mind. I do not sleep.¡±

    Maria stood up and closed her book.  She left the room.  Sarah was alone she hugged herself looking around.  A day ago, this had seemed like her safe haven but now it had been violated.  She pulled off the hoodie and felt something in the front pocket.  She pulled out the letter Misha had handed her.  She had totally forgotten about it.  She pulled it out and opened it sitting on the chair recently occupied by Maria.  Her eyes scanned the Cyrillic text.

    Dear Sarah,

    I have recently been provided with a report about you from Major Guren.  I understand you are aware of our hope to convince you to move to Russia for your post-academy education and to hopefully take up residence here.  I would like to address the respect we have for your abilities and hope that you can use them to make the world a better place.  We will offer full citizenship for you and whatever family you desire, provide you with a spacious residence and a living allowance equivalent of 100000 Scottish Pounds a year. This is just to take up residence here.  You may seek employment and other income at your desire.  Should you wish it we will be more than happy in assisting you with employment in whatever field you chose to enter.

    I understand you are a hockey player of some skill.  I am pleased to let you know that provided you show enough skill in a try out which can be arranged for you, we would be happy to have you represent us in international competition.

    To show you how committed Russia is to your future I would like to invite you to come on your fall break to join us for a tour of Moscow, an example of the residence you can expect to receive on becoming a citizen and I have also arranged for you to spend some time with our Olympic women¡¯s hockey team.  All of your expenses would be taken care of, and you would stay with my family for the duration.  If you would like to accept this invitation, please communicate your acceptance to Major Guren.

    Yours, with respect,

    Milyutin Makarovich, President of the Russian Federation.

    Sarah stared at the letter for a long time then her second alarm went off it snapped her out of it.  She folded I up and put it back in the envelope then put it in her desk drawer. She chewed on her thumb nail then grabbed her water bottle and took her meds with shaking hands. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was excitement or nervousness.  Supers really were like superstars here.  If she accepted, she would feel obliged to consider them when she finished school but meeting an Olympic women¡¯s hockey team was such an opportunity for a puck head.  She got ready for breakfast she was leaving the shared bathroom and nearly bumped into Amee who she stepped out of the way for but walked past without a word.  Amee watched her go.  Sarah picked up her noise cancelling headphones and put them on and started a play list.

    She picked up her breakfast in the cafeteria head phones on.  She sat down in the furthest corner of the room.  She ate her breakfast slowly, playing with her food. She barely noticed the shifting crowd of girls coming and going.  It was a typical morning for her until her medication kicked in time tended to lose meaning if she wasn¡¯t doing something and if she was doing something specific but unwanted it seemed to stretch onto eternity making the task ahead seem endless and impossible. She didn¡¯t notice with Maria, Kerri and Amee joined her. Nor when Amee tried to talk to her.  Her mind was far away thinking of a stone slab covered in blue runes she couldn¡¯t quite understand.  She kept seeing a flash of an ornate silver sword at its center. Her wrist vibrated telling her it was time to head to her first class. Her roommates had already left she cleaned up her table and walked to the subway which was crowded with girls from both dorms getting ready for their first class.  She got onto the train and sat

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    down. She was still zoned out when she felt a tap on her shoulder.  Her initial reaction was anger.  She had headphones on for a reason but when she looked up, she saw Cadet Carter.  She pulled her headphones down.

    ¡°Sorry for bothering you.  I just wanted to apologize for how rough things got.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°We all got a bit rough.¡±

    ¡°I was worried it was bad, I mean I saw you getting wheeled in for emergency surgery.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°That had nothing to do with you, they found bullet fragments and an injury that wasn¡¯t healed properly.  Apparently, they had to get them out?¡±

    Amanda sat down beside her.

    ¡°Bullet fragments?  Oh right¡­the Major said you were shot.?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Apparently it was close, had a lot of blood loss.   Headmistress, Ms. Aurelius and Ms. Sheppard got me through it.¡±

    ¡°Wow, I mean the Major said some stuff went down, I didn¡¯t realize it was that serious.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Sarah, if you ever need help with anything you know like boys stalking you.  You can count on us.  You might not be part of our team, but you earned our respect. I¡¯ll let you get back to your music.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Sarah pulled her headphones up again and wore them all the way to class which this morning happened to be English.  She had to take two language courses.  Her native language¡¯s literature and another languages literature, or beginners if she didn¡¯t know it already.  She had decided on Russian literature.  Then there was Math, Science, History and Social studies.  The basic school courses took up her mornings and her afternoons were taken up by alternating classes in Magic and Power use finishing off with PT class. She closed her eyes and listened to the music.  When she felt the train come to a stop she got up and walked off the train.  She could not hear her roommates calling out to her to wait up. The rest of the week followed that pattern.  She was suffering for a bout of what is often called Hyperfocus.  When she wasn¡¯t in class or at the gym, she was at the library trying to find anything out about the tree or slab.  She was kicked out of the library on both Saturday and Sunday at closing because she had lost track of time and hadn¡¯t eaten lunch or either day.  She rarely took off her noise cancelling headphones and without parents around to pull her back and her anger at Amee she found herself in trouble on the Monday morning when she hadn¡¯t finished three homework assignments.

    She found herself in the Headmistress¡¯s office for the last fifteen minutes of her Russian Literature class.  Eyre was reading over emails from her instructors.

    ¡°Sarah, you have five homework assignments given to you, and you have completed none of them.  I also had complaint from library staff that you were there fifteen minutes past closing last night even though they told you three times it was closing.  How can I help?¡±

    Sarah shrugged fiddling with her headphones.

    ¡°Sarah, I am here to help you succeed but to succeed you need to actually be present in your classes.¡±

    Sarah shrugged again still messing with her noise cancelling headphones.  She didn¡¯t look up to meet Eyre¡¯s eyes.  Eyre kept talking but Sarah totally lost track of the conversation. Her mind kept going back to the slab if she could just find a picture or some indication of its location.  She snapped out of it when she felt a tap on the shoulder.  Eyre was standing behind her.

    ¡°Sarah, you will turn in all your missing assignments and anything new by Friday or there will be disciplinary action.  Do you understand?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Alright, go get some lunch, and Sarah quit skipping meals, it¡¯s not good for you.¡±

    ¡°Yes Headmistress.¡±

    Sarah sighed and put her headphones back on and went for lunch.  Eyre shook her head as Sarah walked out of her office.  She dialed Dr. Carston¡¯s office.

    ¡°Eyre, what can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°Sarah MacCloud, I don¡¯t know what you changed about her meds last week, but you need to sort it out, she¡¯s missed five assignments and hasn¡¯t been eating.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, did she mention anything at length?¡±

    ¡°She said exactly two words to me when she bothered paying attention to me at all. Those were Yes, Headmistress.¡±

    ¡°Eyre, ADHD is not a made-up learning disability, she is sometimes incapable of paying attention.  I suspect she¡¯s suffering from a bout of hyperfocus.  It¡¯s pretty typical in people ADHD especially younger ones.  I thought you had her in a room with three other girls and that she was getting along with them. And one had befriended her. Has something changed?¡±

    ¡°I do not have time to find out the relationship dynamics of all the students on campus Doctor.  Sort it out, this cannot go on.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I have a session with her this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Well, if she doesn¡¯t show up, check the Magic Library I do know she¡¯s been spending every waking moment she could there.¡±

    *****

    Sarah paced in front of Dr. Carston¡¯s office. She had her noise cancelling headphones around her neck.  She just wanted this over with and get back to the library.  Everything felt like a nuisance lately eating, showering, class, homework having to talk to her roommates.  Dr. Carston opened his door and motioned in her inside.  Sarah went in and sat down.

    ¡°How is the new dosage working?¡±

    ¡°Great.¡±

    ¡°Good, good.  I¡¯ll enter the new prescription in the system for you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Dr. Carston.¡±

    Sarah grabbed for the handle of her bag.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Sarah frowned slightly.

    ¡°I thought today was just to make sure the new dosage was good.¡±

    ¡°No, please have a seat, I¡¯m afraid I got a call from the Headmistress today, something about you being distant not handing in any homework assignments?¡±

    Sarah sat down her ears started to burn.

    ¡°Oh, you heard about that already.¡±

    Dr. Carston smiled.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not sure how your old schools worked but not turning in one assignment is cause of concern, five assignments in a row in different classes that sets off a whole bunch of red flags.  Do you want to tell me about what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just researching something the assignments were getting in the way.¡±

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re here to take classes, shouldn¡¯t that be your focus?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°What have you been researching?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s embarrassing.  I¡¯m also not supposed to talk about some of it.¡±

    ¡°This is a safe space Sarah, there are no judgments here.  I¡¯m just here to listen to your thoughts and feelings and where I can help you navigate your ADHD.  So, what were you researching?¡±

    ¡°When I was under anesthesia, I saw a giant tree covering a stone rise that had some sort of stone cover on it.  It was covered in blue runes and there were these lines of blue and green energy running through it, like my hands when I use my powers.  I was so close to figuring out what they said, and it was so real I¡¯m just trying to finish.  I understood the runes I knew what they said but they were jumbled, and I couldn¡¯t figure out what they meant.  I could feel it.  Like I feel so much just at the edge of my mind.  It is driving me nuts and I just want to find a reference to the tree and the stone cap.  I haven¡¯t been able too.  It has to be out there; I must have read something about it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it was just a dream?  You said it felt the same as when you were using your powers?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean it looked the same. It just felt familiar like and important. Like someone¡¯s life depended on it.  Like something super important to me was behind it.  An explanation for everything.  Like why sometimes I feel like I know things I have no way of knowing, or why I can understand fifteen languages I¡¯ve never spoken or read.  Why sometimes I can do things when I don¡¯t think hard about them.  Like how the hell do I know how to target shoot?  I mean I scored perfect, and I¡¯ve never touched a gun before.  Or like how did I beat the shit out of ten older students that train daily? They literally didn¡¯t stand a chance once I stopped trying to think about it when I just let my body do what it wanted too.¡±

    ¡°Do you often feel like you¡¯re not in control of your body?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m always in control I just let my body lead instead of mind. It¡¯s a weird sensation.  Like muscle memory.  I can stop at any time.  I do it all the time in sports.¡±

    ¡°How do you feel when you stop overthinking and let your body do what feels right?¡±

    ¡°Like I¡¯m not fighting myself anymore?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever had an instance when you blacked out doing it?¡±

    ¡°A couple of times I guess but I don¡¯t really remember¡­someone altered my memories.¡±

    ¡°You feel like someone did?¡±

    ¡°No, the headmistress tried to make me forget what happened but couldn¡¯t, so she changed the memory.¡±

    ¡°What did she not want you to remember?¡±

    ¡°She only did it because my father begged her. It wasn¡¯t her.  It¡¯s like when someone shoots someone else, do you blame the gun?¡±

    ¡°That is a very mature way of looking at it, so what did was your father worried about you remembering?¡±

    ¡°I killed a man that was trying to abduct me.¡±

    Dr. Carston nodded.  Sarah could tell he was shocked but trying to hide it. He wrote down some notes casually.

    ¡°Do you remember it?¡±

    ¡°I have had dreams, but they were the fake memories.  The real one is frightening; I saw a video.¡±

    ¡°What did the video show?¡±

    ¡°I tortured him by breaking all of his bones then after I made him beg for his life twice, I made the plants stab him over and over again.¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°And how do you feel about that?¡±

    ¡°It made me throw up.  I still feel sick to my stomach.  It was so vicious and cruel.  It¡¯s like I wanted to punish him like I knew he had already killed three girls.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t remember any of this?  What do you see when you dream about it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know it¡¯s the same, but he grabs me, and I curl up in a ball on the ground when the plants start attacking him and stop when I see my brothers in the room and the plants are going towards them.¡±

    ¡°Which memory would you prefer to have?¡±

    ¡°Neither, I wish it never happened, but the one where I was in control of my power felt better even if it proves I¡¯m a monster.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say you are a monster?¡±

    ¡°It was like I was stepping on an ant; You should have seen the look on my face.  It was terrifying.  And watching it part of me liked it.¡±

    ¡°Why did you like it?¡±

    ¡°I was in control, the plants did exactly what I wanted.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel out of control?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I do, I¡¯m a teenage girl. Like the last time you asked.¡±

    ¡°Do you think this current hyperfocus of yours is you trying to take some control?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel like you¡¯re in control when you¡¯re playing sports?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should get you back into organized sports then.¡±

    ¡°Sure, tell them to get Soccer or Hockey going in September.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking Field Hockey.¡±

    ¡°No, you play hockey on ice.¡±

    ¡°There is field hockey too, its similar.  The houses make teams up and play each other.  Boys and girls teams who will play each other too.  I think you might enjoy it.¡±

    ¡°Alright I guess I can try it.¡±

    ¡°And Soccer is a fall sport here. But at this point in time, you don¡¯t qualify to play, you¡¯re academic standing is bad.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We can fix that quickly; Can you finish the assignments tonight?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°I need your commitment will you finish all of the assignments tonight and the ones due tomorrow if I go to the Headmistress and tell her there was a medication mix up and that you should do better in the future?¡±

    ¡°I will finish them tonight.¡±

    ¡°Okay I will let the headmistress know so you can sign up for Soccer.  You¡¯ll be playing with a school in Munich.  We don¡¯t have a team.  But you won¡¯t have time for this research project.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°I think what we need to do is teach your brain to kick it out of the hyperfocus you¡¯ve been experiencing here and there.  Or if you are stuck, how to redirect that energy to something you need done rather then something you like doing.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we re-write the laws of physics while we¡¯re at it?¡±

    Sarah leaned on the desk with her elbows and rubbed her face.

    ¡°Do you go to bed on time?¡±

    ¡°Most nights.¡±

    ¡°How do you do that?¡±

    ¡°I set a silent alarm on my holo-tablet, so it tells me the time. Same thing I do in the mornings, so I don¡¯t miss my work out or breakfast. Like I used to do with my phone.¡±

    ¡°So that vibration on your wrist tells you it¡¯s time to do something. So why don¡¯t you start doing that when you have an assignment.  Set it as soon as you get an assignment and have it notify you its time to start on the assignment.  I can tell by your marks from your previous school you have the ability to judge the time a given task will take, so estimate it right when you get the assignment and set another alarm at the end time to help you change tracks.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like it will get annoying.¡±

    ¡°Sarah you¡¯re at a private school now, your parents are not here to knock you out of your hyperfocus and if you¡¯re friends aren¡¯t up to the task you need to take steps to learn to do it yourself.  When you are an adult, you will be on your own sometimes and if you don¡¯t have a way to remind you that you have something to do you might forget, just imagine if you have a child some day and they are at school, and you have to pick them up at 3 pm.  If you have no one to remind you it¡¯s time to pick you up, that child could be stuck there for wondering with their mother is.  The behaviors you train your brain to respond to now can help you for the rest of your life.  So, if it takes scheduled alarms to remind you that you have tasks to complete then that¡¯s what it takes. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°By the way, your hair looks good.  I see you took my advice and went for a change.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°What else happened this week?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±

    ¡°I think we should.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s done and over with, she did it, I can¡¯t change that.¡±

    ¡°For her it is done.  For you, you still have the trauma of living through that.¡±

    ¡°My mother tried to kill herself.  So what?  She was dead to me anyway.¡±

    ¡°Was she?¡±

    His desk started to rumble as blue veins creeped into her hands.

    ¡°Sarah.  Stop.¡±

    Sarah blinked and picked up her bag and walked out without a word.  Her face was bright red, and she had tears dripping down her cheeks.

 Earth Prime - 2026 - German Pride

    Sarah laced up her soccer cleats. They were brand new and not broken in at all.  Her feet had grown enough she had needed to purchase a new pair.  She touched the pink ankle limiter.  She could hear the other girls talking in the change room.  They were speaking in German and she understood every single word. German was rarely spoken these days except for families who had survived the 1942 Event.  There was a concentrated effort to keep the language alive.  The majority of Germans who survived were soldiers and civilians who had been moved into captured territories. The Germans of this world were far different then then the one¡¯s Sarah knew.  They were the remnants of a lost people.  The majority of the survivors were Nazis and the crimes that they had committed were neatly covered up by a massive zone of death that destroyed everything except for buildings. Most of the girls were blonde haired and blue eyed.  She didn¡¯t stand apart.  Her enchantment had faded enough that she was back to her blonde-haired self.  Apparently, hair dye spells weren¡¯t as effective on her.  Beyond her almost silver eyes she didn¡¯t stand out much.  Sarah wasn¡¯t a fan of the new Germans. They still espoused racial purity.  The idea had not died in WW2.  Not that it had ever died in her world, but this lot was a whole new level.  The whole conversation made her feel ill.

    ¡°At least this new one looks pure.¡±

    ¡°Except she¡¯s a freak.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just jealous because you¡¯re a PL1 and couldn¡¯t get into the Academy.¡±

    ¡°I wonder if she has any skill whatsoever.  I¡¯m tired of getting shackled with losers from the Academy because they don¡¯t have a team and need to be socialized.¡±

    ¡°MacCloud at least it¡¯s not a Jewish name.¡±

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t send one of those here.  I saw a crucifix.  She is Catholic.¡±

    ¡°Good, she will fit in nicely.  Still not sure if it¡¯s a girl though.¡±

    Sarah walked around the lockers and spoke in German.

    ¡°I was MVP for my team last year and I was captain, and we won the state championship.  Is that good enough for you? Or should I be wearing a swastika and a black two-finger mustache?¡±

    Sarah shook her head and walked towards the pitch. The four German teenager girls looked at each other eyes a bit wider.  Sarah ignored them and walked out onto the pitch.  It was a sunny fall day.  Still warm.  It was different then the campus.  Natural. No wall of shadow on the horizon.  She breathed in the fresh air.  Not that it was terribly fresh they were middle of a city of fifteen million people.  She looked up at the flags that flew over the school.  The German flag was the black red and gold from her world but in the left top corner was a swastika.  She frowned.  She wasn¡¯t sure she could manage to stomach this just to play soccer.  Dying in 1942 had turned Hitler and the Nazi leadership into martyrs on Earth-Prime.  The Germans held them in the kind of regard Americans hold Lincoln.  The coach waved her over when she saw Sarah.  Sarah ran over.  She spoke in heavily accent English.

    ¡°You are Sara MacCloud?¡±

    Sarah nodded and responded in German.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, I speak fluent German.¡±

    The coach smiled and nodded and responded in German.

    ¡°That is good, my English is not so good.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I spoke to your Headmistress and she told me you were an experienced soccer player and that you were skilled.  Also, that you were center-forward and captain of your team?¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am¡±

    ¡°Well, we will see how you do there.¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Get warmed up.¡±

    Sarah nodded and started doing her stretches.  The rest of the team caught up to her.  The practice went as Sarah was used to practices going.  The other girls tried to be a bit rough with her.  She was big enough to give as good as she got.  She was also skilled enough to stand out at the end of the two-hour practice she was already being treated with more respect.  Her ability to speak German had gone a long way to ingratiate her to the rest of the team and the coaches.  It had also given them the false belief she also shared their beliefs on race and religion.  Sarah was pulling her cleats off two of the girls from the team had come around to chat with her while everyone got changed.  She knew their names at least, one was Karin, the other was Elke.  They, like the rest of the team were fair haired and had light-colored eyes. Elke glanced at Sarah.

    ¡°Sara are you going right back home, or do you want to come out with us for supper?¡±

    Sarah glanced down at her holo-tablet it was seven thirty.  She technically had an hour before she was required to report to the teleportation circle.  She knew she was long past supper at the school and the practice and her medication wearing off had left her feeling starved.  She gave a practiced smile.

    ¡°I have an hour before I have to report to the teleportation circle.  I would love to.¡±

    Once everyone was changed the girls led Sarah to a nearby restaurant.  It was small and cozy. Sarah shouldn¡¯t have been shocked but there it was, a full-on Nazi flag hanging from one of the walls. It looked old.  The girls were seated right away Elke ordered a beer.  She was sixteen.  Sarah went with water.  Sarah was amazed at how easy it was for her to understand the menu.  She ordered sausage and sauerkraut.  The others ordered similar items.  Sarah felt like she was in one of the old WW2 movies she¡¯d watched.  The restaurant looked like it hadn¡¯t changed much since the 1940¡¯s.  No TVs, Nazi flag. The only hint they weren¡¯t there was her own holo-tablet wristband and the girls who had their phones nearby.

    ¡°Sara, you grew up in the United States?¡±

    Sarah nodded as she sipped her water.

    ¡°Well, I moved there when I was six.¡±

    ¡°Must have been difficult with such diversity around you.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean all the other races of course.¡±

    Karin nodded.

    ¡°How did you stay sane?¡±

    Sarah took a long drink of her water, so she didn¡¯t berate her new ¡®friends¡¯. Fighting systemic racism in a place where the biggest racist of all time was considered a national hero was a pointless battle for a fourteen-year-old girl so she did her best to try not to offend the girls.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that much different from Scotland.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, all the immigration, I¡¯m so glad we have laws in place.¡±

    ¡°Well, I grew up in a different environment.  I am used to dealing with people from diverse backgrounds.  It doesn¡¯t bother me as much as it bothers you.¡±

    The girls nodded.  Elke took a drink of her beer.  Karin smiled.

    ¡°I think you will fit in with the team very well.  You seem to be very good at Soccer.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I like ice hockey better, but that doesn¡¯t start until winter.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know we have a girl¡¯s hockey team too.  Are you going to be playing with us?¡±

    ¡°I think my Headmistress already sent my intent to play that as well.¡±

    Karin smiled broadly.

    ¡°Do you have a phone?¡±

    ¡°I do but mostly it seems to be a paper weight after I got this.¡±

    She held up her wrist and pointed at the holo-tablet.

    ¡°Oh, what is that? Is that new style handy?¡±

    Sarah couldn¡¯t translate the last word.

    ¡°What is a handy?¡±

    Karin held up her phone.  Sarah laughed and shook her head.

    ¡°I guess actually it sort of is, its like an all in one.¡±

    She tapped it and it brought up a holographic projection and she flipped it so Karin could see it.  Both girls stared at it with wide eyes.  Elke took a long drink from her beer and put the empty mug down.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°The company that makes them calls them a holo-tablet.¡±

    She tapped her wrist band and the projection vanished.

    ¡°They gave them to all of us Grade 9¡¯s at the academy instead of normal tablets.  It works like a video phone and computer.  Basically, it¡¯s all in one.  I have no idea how it works.  I¡¯m friends with one of the people who helped make it, but she can¡¯t explain it in terms I understand.¡±

    ¡°Who makes them?  Where can you buy them?¡±

    ¡°I think Holo Inc is the company.  They¡¯re based in Munich; I don¡¯t know there was a book with them had a blurb about them I have no idea where I put it.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Elke picked up her phone and did a quick search. She found it and her eyes went wide.  She showed her phone to Sarah and the price tag was large.

    ¡°They just gave them too you?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Apparently, they code to your DNA and are useless to anyone else.  Really neat but I mean what if you want to sell it and buy a newer model?  You know I think there was a code in the book to give out so friends and family can get a discount.¡±

    Elke and Karin both perked up at the word discount.  Their conversation was interrupted when the food arrived.  The server replaced Elke¡¯s beer without asking.  Sarah started eating hers like she was starving.  Elke and Karin didn¡¯t pay her eating habits too much mind as they both started eating theirs.  Sarah tried to hide her disgust as her eyes randomly hit the Nazi flag.  Karin noticed.

    ¡°Is your food alright Sara?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°What is bothering you?¡±

    Sarah sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain.  Homesick I think is the best thing to describe it as.¡±

    Karin nodded.  Sarah finished her food off.  She glanced up at the flag again.  How much could she compromise to play the sports she loved.  She desperately wanted to rip it down and yell at everyone that they need to snap out of it.  Sarah finished her water and her watch started vibrating.

    ¡°Sorry I need to get back to school.¡±

    ¡°Oh, take our numbers.  What is yours?¡±

    Sarah typed the numbers into her tablet and provided her contact information.

    ¡°It was nice to meet you both see you at practice on Thursday.¡±

    They both waved to Sarah who waved back.  Sarah walked to the bar tender and swiped her wrist band to pay.  It worked as well as her phone.

    ¡°Have a good evening, young lady.¡±

    ¡°You to.¡±

    Sarah walked out into early Autumn evening.  Her car was waiting.  She got in and the driver started off down the road. She watched the buildings of Munich flash past.  She felt the need to move suddenly so she did, and she felt something brush past her neck. She couldn¡¯t see the arm, but she grabbed it and twisted it back towards whomever was sitting beside her.  They shimmered into existence with a needle sticking out of their neck.  It was a woman who was smaller than her.  She saw a gun under the woman¡¯s jacket.  Sarah grabbed it and turned the safety off.  The driver looked in the back seat his eyes were wide when he saw the pistol in Sarah¡¯s hand. Sarah pointed the gun towards him.

    ¡°What is going on?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s sixth sense was flaring up she moved to the side and another invisible person, a man this time, shimmered into existence.  He had a gun in his hand.  She let her body take over. It grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm until the gun fell to the floor of the back seat.  She flipped the seat switch to fold it forward with her right foot and slammed the person in the passenger seat into the dashboard with her left foot.  When the man who had been invisible sat up, her right hand gripped his neck so hard, he started to gasp. She put the gun to the driver¡¯s head.  She felt her fingers and thumb press against the veins in the invisible man¡¯s neck and forced them down.

    ¡°MANA headquarters.¡±

    The driver turned the car around the man in the seat in front of her struggled but eventually fell unconscious. Sarah while holding the gun to the driver¡¯s head took the seat belt that the invisible man had not been wearing and looped at round his neck then his wrists and tied it around the head rest.  If he struggled he¡¯d end up choking himself out again with the knot she had tied the driver used the distraction to try and grab the gun Sarah hit him in the cheek with it causing him to cry out and spit out blood.  She was so pumped with adrenaline she still wasn¡¯t processing exactly what she was doing.  The invisible man woke up and immediate started choking himself as he struggled.  He knocked himself out again by constricting his airway.  Sarah loosened the belt on his neck so he wouldn¡¯t die.  The car pulled up the gate and seeing the gun the guards immediately took up defensive stances with their assault rifles pointed at all the occupants and a super who was fire based started to float in front of the car hands glowing with blue flame.

    ¡°Put your gun down!¡±

    Sarah threw it out the rear window and put her hands up.  The driver tried to peel out back wards Sarah punched him in the side of the head. The car rolled to a stop and the man¡¯s head hit the steering wheel and the horn started blaring.  The invisible man vanished but she could hear him start to choak out again as he struggled to get free.  He became visible when he went unconscious again.  The MANA guards started pulling people out of the car.  They called for medical for the woman who had been injected with the mystery substance.  They put hand cuffs on everyone, even Sarah.

    ¡°Careful the passengers can turn invisible.¡±

    They put more durable limiters on the other three went to put one on Sarah and stopped when the saw she already had one.  One pulled out a tablet and scanned it.

    ¡°She¡¯s a student from the Academy.  She¡¯s been flagged.¡±

    Soon afterwards she found herself being helped up and her handcuffs removed.  Another car arrived shortly afterwards.  Same make, model and color.  Same markings.  Sarah rubbed her wrists and looked at the three on the ground.  From what she could tell from the conversations going on around her they were all rogue supers who were wanted on numerous terrorism charges.  She stood there for about fifteen minutes before someone escorted her inside.  It was the fire super that had been hovering in front of the car.  She had a holo-tablet on her wrist as well. The woman motioned for Sarah to follow her and they walked past the gate and towards the main transport hub.  She had dusky skin and dark hair.  If Sarah had to guess she was from India, her accent proved it.

    ¡°Sarah, so glad you were able to make it back to us in one piece.  I¡¯m Agent Mallick. Could you tell me what happened?¡±

    Sarah noticed the recording light was flashing on the Agent¡¯s wristband.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I called for a car to pick me up.  My holo-tablet buzzed telling me they were arriving, I got in then was attacked by an invisible woman with a needle.  Something seemed off and after I struggled with the woman the needle ended up in her neck and I got her gun.  Then I knocked out the other invisible person and tied him up and forced the driver to bring me here.¡±

    ¡°We did not receive any pings on your limiter showing power use.  You did all that without powers?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been taking martial arts for a while. And I grew up in the US, guns are part of the culture there.  I honestly don¡¯t think any of them was expecting resistance.¡±

    ¡°Impressive, taking down three supers with no powers.¡±

    ¡°Being invisible and stuck in a car really isn¡¯t much of a power.¡±

    Agent Mallick laughed and nodded.

    ¡°True.  Let¡¯s get you back to the school.¡±

    Sarah swept her wrist band and walked into the transit center.  She walked into the appropriate teleport circle and found herself back at the transit center for the Academy and Misha standing there with three other security personal looking like he was getting ready to invade the MANA headquarters. She smiled and waved at him.

    ¡°Sarah where have you been?¡±

    ¡°Sorry wrong car picked me up.  It¡¯s all good now.¡±

    He pulled his tactical helmet off and motioned for the other to head back out.

    ¡°You had us worried.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m good.  Everything is fine.¡±

    ¡°That usually means the exact opposite when my daughter is speaking.¡±

    Sarah gave a small shrug and her best innocent smile.  She followed them out to their SUV and they drove her down the road to the school.  Sarah kept her mouth shut the whole ride to avoid saying something compromising.  When they arrived at the dorm Sarah picked up her bag and got out.

    ¡°Thank you, Misha.¡±

    He waved.  Sarah walked up the steps and inside.  A full five minutes before she had to be back.  She trudged up the steps and to her shared room.  When she got inside, she was shocked to see an extra face. She blinked because it was like she was looking at younger, and female Misha.  The group was sitting in the couches on either side of the relic of a coffee table. They were laughing and giggling.  They were so into their conversation they didn¡¯t notice a quiet Sarah walking across the floor.  She opened her door and shut it behind her soon realizing that her room had changed.  It was the most spacious of the four rooms and had more than enough space for the extra bed and desk.  She had assumed it used to hold two people still she was a bit shocked to see the extra furniture and belongings.  She was thankful she¡¯d cleaned up her side of the room when avoiding homework, the day before.  She threw her bag on her desk and flopped into the bed fully clothed. Her watched buzzed and she groaned.  She tapped her wristband and looked up.  Shower ¨C 20 mins.  She pushed herself up and pulled her clothes off and tossed them into her dirty basket.  She pulled her bathrobe on and picked up her towel and shower kit and walked out of the room.  It was during a lull in the conversation and they noticed her this time.  Young female Misha rushed over and offered her hand.

    ¡°Hi, you must be Sarah, I¡¯m Sasha.  Your new bunkmate.¡±

    Sarah took it and shook it.

    ¡°Welcome to the Academy, you must be Misha¡¯s daughter.¡±

    Sasha blushed and nodded.  Sarah motioned to the shared bathroom.

    ¡°Need to shower and get cleaned up, have an assignment.¡±

    Sarah waved to the rest of the girls and stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water.  She heard footsteps on the tiled floor.

    ¡°Sarah that was rude.¡±

    ¡°No, what was rude was them giving me a roommate, without telling me!¡±

    Sarah scrubbed the shampoo into her hair.

    ¡°It¡¯s not her fault.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to be rude I just have a schedule to keep, twenty minutes for shower, an hour for the assignment, then bed.¡±

    ¡°You were way cooler when you didn¡¯t let your holo-tablet rule your life.¡±

    ¡°I was also on my way to getting kicked out.¡±

    ¡°You should have just asked I can do the assignments and you can hand them in.  It takes me like ten minutes a night.¡±

    ¡°And that would be like the mega get kicked out of school honor code violation we were warned about.¡±

    ¡°So, are you still pissed at me about the whole not believing you thing?¡±

    Sarah rinsed the shampoo from her hair and sighed.

    ¡°No but I¡¯m kind of getting annoyed that my calm, quiet shower time is being interrupted by an obnoxious American girl.¡±

    ¡°Well, you pretty much ignore us all the time now so I figured I could corner you in here alone.¡±

    Sarah sighed and started putting her conditioner in when she finished, she peeked her head out. She had to wait a minute or two anyway.  Amee was still there leaning on the tiled wall.

    ¡°Amee, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m just having some trouble dealing with this whole thing. It¡¯s not you, it is me.¡±

    ¡°I would really like to be friends Sarah.  You¡¯re making it hard.¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s start over.  I¡¯m Sarah I have ADHD and can sometimes be a mouthy forgetful bitch.  I just spent two hours practicing soccer with some girls and a coach that think Hitler was a hero and was reminded that that I¡¯m not in Kansas anymore.  Then an invisible wicked witch and her two henchmen tried to drug me and capture me.  After I ate dinner in a restaurant that had a full-on Nazi flag hanging from a wall.  What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Amee blinked at her.

    ¡°Amee, and Jesus are you okay Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  I¡¯m not sure if I want them to keep me here for my own safety and ban me from soccer or if I¡¯d be upset if they did.  Nazi youth have this way of making me not love my sport of choice so much.¡±

    Sarah moved back into the shower and started to rinse her hair out.

    ¡°They can¡¯t be that bad.  Why does the whole Nazi thing bother you so much?¡±

    ¡°You know the only video games I was okay with playing where I was killing things that were human usually involved me vs Nazis.  And they¡¯re Nazis.  I mean Mein Kampf is right beside the bible in their eyes.  They were the same as they were on our Earth only, they died, and no one caught on to their racial purges.  It is sickening.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re fourteen you¡¯re not supposed to care about that stuff.  Sarah, you can¡¯t blame them for beliefs that have been being reinforced for three or four generations.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right but it doesn¡¯t mean I have to like it.¡±

    Sarah came out of the shower and Amee handed her the towel.  Sarah started drying off.  Glancing at Amee.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t much for privacy, are you?¡±

    Amee shrugged.

    ¡°Amee, I¡¯m sorry I shouldn¡¯t have been gotten angry so fast.¡±

    ¡°Apology accepted.¡±

    ¡°Did you keep the facilities people from seeing Sir Gallant?¡±

    ¡°No that would be Maria, turns out she can talk to animals too.  Took her about ten minutes to convince him it was time to retreat.¡±

    Sarah smiled and pulled one of her overly big t-shirts on.  She started to brush her hair.  Amee shook her head.

    ¡°How the hell is your hair always so easy to brush?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Always has been.¡±

    ¡°Well, everyone is jealous.  Want to talk about how you managed to escape three kidnappers?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.  I just let my body do its thing. I decided the targets and it just went with it.  I mean if it was a movie, it would have been bloody amazing.  I¡¯m not even sure how I noticed the needle coming my way.  She was invisible.  I met a really cool super, she could fly and was covered in blue fire.¡±

    ¡°You know it¡¯s alright to not be okay with your body being able to do that to people right?¡±

    ¡°I have no problem with what happened.  No one died.¡±

    ¡°If only we were all so lucky.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡±

    Amee shook her head.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t me who did it, I just have to remember it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean it wasn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°My alien cybernetics came with an Artificial Intelligence.  Her primary function was the survival of her host at any cost.¡±

    ¡°Is she gone?¡±

    Amee nodded her face darkening.

    ¡°She was your friend?¡±

    ¡°Sort of, it was kind of like having a mother in my head? I donno, she was odd and had no clue how Earth worked but she was kind to me, kept telling me I was amazing.  Hard not to like someone like that.¡±

    ¡°I can see how losing that would suck.  I could use an ego boosting AI in my brain.¡±

    Amee frowned slightly.  Sarah hugged her tightly.

    ¡°Now you have me, random, insane and all-around loony roommate and still bestie?¡±

    Amee smiled and hugged her back.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Boys are Frustrating, Especially Ghost Boys.

    Sarah felt like she was falling.  First along a snow-covered mountain then through the air and then through the wooden roof of a building. When she hit the ground, she woke up with a start covered in sweat.  Sasha didn¡¯t stir she looked out the window and it was still dark.  Her movement had wakened Sir Gallant whose twitchy nose was sniffing her direction.  She touched his head and scratched with her index finger.  He pushed against it.

    ¡°Just a dream brave Sir Gallant.¡±

    She glanced at her holo-tablet¡¯s wristband.  Still the middle of the night.  She laid back down after hitting her pillow a few times.  Sir Gallant hopped down and nuzzled against her nose and patted her cheek with his front paw he hopped backed up and vanished into his enclosure.  Sarah closed her eyes.  When she drifted off another dream took hold of her.  It was far different than any before it.  She felt like she was in a different body.  Her whole body was tingling.  She was completely inexperienced when it came to actual physical intimacy so she had no basis for comparison but whatever was going on it felt really good.  When she opened her eyes and looked towards the sensations, she saw a pair of magenta eyes looking back up at her and Amee¡¯s mischievous smile pop up from between her thighs. Amee looked older.  Her hair was longer.  The older version of Amee crawled over top of her, her knees between Sarah¡¯s thighs.  She spoke, it was her friend¡¯s voice.

    ¡°We should have done this a thousand years ago.¡±

    Their lips met, their breasts pressed against each other, and Sarah was pulled out of the dream by her wrist vibrating.  She was breathing heavily and was flush when her eyes fluttered open.  Her bed felt wet and she thought at first she¡¯d missed a queue to get to the washroom during the night but then when she looked it was blood, not a large amount but enough she let out a squeal of panic.  Her half-asleep brain not being able to process what she was seeing.  It didn¡¯t take long for Maria to open the door.  Sasha was still completely asleep and didn¡¯t notice.  Sarah covered herself up quickly.  After glancing around the room Maria spoke quietly.

    ¡°Is everything alright Sarah?¡±

    ¡°Fine, everything is fine.¡±

    ¡°Did you hurt yourself? I smell blood.¡±

    Sarah clutched her blanket to her chest.  She felt her cheeks burning.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡±

    Maria blinked a few times then stroked her crucifix as she spoke.

    ¡°Oh, I see.  I will get Amee. She will know what to do.¡±

    Sarah shook her head furiously her voice was a harsh whisper.

    ¡°No!  Definitely not Amee.¡±

    ¡°It is a normal part of being alive, I do not understand how it is embarrassing.  I am also not equipped to assist with this, I do not get my period.  I am dead.  I have no memory of them from my mortal life.  Would you rather I speak to Ms. Sheppard?¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ just¡­  Please I will sort this out.  Thanks!¡±

    Maria nodded.

    ¡°If you need me, I will be in my room.¡±

    Sarah kept clutching her sheet to herself.  Her hands were shaking.  Normally she would have loved to ask Amee to help her with her predicament.  After that dream she just felt awkward.  She felt no attraction to other women.  Not even the slightest but that dream was intense.  It also felt like it had actually happened.  Every sensation, every touch.  Her face had lost the blush but as she recalled the dream, she became flush again.  How was she ever going to look at Amee the same way?  She could never ever tell her, nope, way too embarrassing.

    She lifted the sheet and looked at the carnage so to speak.  She thought it was supposed to be drops not¡­this.  Her underwear were ruined.  She¡¯d desperately wanted to start developing but she didn¡¯t even take in to account what it would really mean.  Tears dripped down her cheeks.  She suddenly wished her mother was just next door and could help her.  Tell her it¡¯s alright.  She took a deep breath, grabbed her bathrobe, a fresh pair of underwear and rushed to the bathroom.  Under normal circumstance she would be panicking right this very second, but it occurred to her, she wasn¡¯t.  She was freaked out, uncomfortable and embarrassed but she was not panicking.  She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.  Maria was right, this was normal, this was part of being a woman.

    Sarah looked around the shared bathroom, she hopped one of her room mates had left something in here that could help her out.  She¡¯d borrow and apologize later.  They¡¯d understand.  Sasha didn¡¯t have anything stored here yet.  Maria wouldn¡¯t have any.  Amee had six different kinds of shampoo and conditioner.  A fortune in cosmetics but absolutely nothing of use for Sarah¡¯s current predicament.  Kerri was her last chance before toilet paper.

    She breathed a sigh of relief.  Kerri had a collection.  Which was her next challenge.  She wasn¡¯t completely uneducated in such things, but her mother had never had the talk with her.  She picked up the box labeled tampons and pulled one out and turned it every which way.  Then she looked at the instructions on the box and immediately shook her head furiously.  She replaced the tampon and put the box down.  She lifted up another box, then another.  They all looked so big.  There was another that looked fairly thin.  She looked between them.  Sarah jumped when she heard a woman¡¯s sigh of annoyance then then heard a voice.

    ¡°Jesus kid!  Just pick one and go with it.  It¡¯s not like you¡¯re painting the Mona Lisa here.¡±

    Sarah dropped the panty liner box she¡¯d been inspecting and looked around quickly.

    ¡°Who is there?¡±

    She received no answer.  Once she caught her breath and the adrenaline the sudden scare had released subsided she leaned down and picked up the box and pulled a liner out.

    ¡°Oh my god, not that one. I thought having to sit through high school for a third time was going to be torture¡­ this is a whole new level.  Do you want to be the girl who leaves blood everywhere you sit?  A panty liner?  How long would that last?  Ten minutes?¡±

    Sarah dropped the liner she¡¯d pulled out along with the box as she looked around fervently again.

    ¡°Come out! I¡¯m warning you.¡±

    Sarah once again received no answer.  After several minutes and a thorough search of the bathroom and the common room she picked up the box of liners and replaced the one she¡¯d dropped and reached moderate flow ones.  She wrapped her fingers around one of the pads and looked around hesitantly hearing no further voices she pulled it out and went about putting it on her underwear.

    ¡°Why would you think the sticky side goes up?  In what world does that make sense?  We¡¯re doomed.  Everyone is completely fucked.¡±

    Sarah jumped for the third time but managed not to drop anything this time.  She looked around again.  Then she rushed to the mirrors and started feeling along the side of them.  Then repeated the same thing everywhere she could think.  After another fruitless search she gingerly flipped the pad over and wrapped the wings around and pulled her underwear on.  She got dressed and ready for her morning workout routine.  She took her pill and chalked the voices up to lack of sleep or she was still dreaming.  Either way she just got on with her day because staying in the room would mean running into Amee and she was in no way emotionally ready for that.

    As Sarah jogged towards the athletics compound her memory kept flashing back to her dream.  It was so strange and so real.  Like it had already happened but Amee was her age, not some adult.  She was so distracted she barely remembered the conversation with Misha about Sasha.  She rushed through her work out and her shower so she could get through breakfast without running into Amee.  That was the plan, but like she told Richard once, no plan survives first contact with the enemy¡­  She was halfway through a bowl cereal then Amee, Maria, Sasha and Kerri sat down.  She jumped when Amee spoke to her. Spilling some her milk on her tray.

    ¡°What¡¯s up Sarah?  Maria said you had a bad night?¡±

    Sarah¡¯s cheeks became flush.  Whether it was from remembering the dream, or the fact she was embarrassed by the mess that had happened in the morning she couldn¡¯t tell.  She quickly picked up her tray and mumbled a response and rushed off.  Leaving her roommates looking at each other in confusion.  She decided to catch the early train to introduction to magic.  At least she wouldn¡¯t see Amee there, Maria and Kerri would be there though.  Either way she could skip the awkward train ride.  Unfortunately leaving so early would mean she was alone in the train.  That would mean her phasing stalker might show up.  In the end avoidance of an uncomfortable conversation with Amee won out over fear of the boy showing up.

    Sarah glanced around the underground station nervously.  No voices, or strange boys to be seen.  She was just sighing with relief when her fears came to fruition.  She saw him shimmer into existence.  She glared at him.

    ¡°Go away! You stalker bawbag.  They can track you now you know!¡±

    He did his trademark half-smile/half-smirk that made her heart flutter.  His presence made her memories of the dream evaporate.  Why did he have this power over her?

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be expelled!¡±

    He laughed.  It made her weak in the knees.

    ¡°If I went to the school that might frighten me, Sarah.¡±

    Sarah did her best to look away from him.  Her head was swimming in hormones.  She hopped on the train as soon as it arrived.  He appeared and sat on the bench in front of her.  He had his uniform jacket off now and his sleeves rolled up.  He leaned back and hung his elbows over the back of the bench.  Sarah couldn¡¯t believe the audacity of the boy.

    ¡°You¡¯re in a school full of vampires, supers and mages, how can you be so¡­ arrogant?  Calm?  They¡¯ll catch you and throw you on Earth-18!¡±

    He laughed again she felt her heart fluttering in her chest and she crossed her legs self-consciously.

    ¡°I assure you they are no threat to me.¡±

    ¡°How can you say that?¡±

    ¡°Because an Archangel made my new body, and Odin fused me to her blade of light.  I am of the Gods.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insane, why are you obsessed with me?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know.¡±

    Sarah was fairly calm now.  She¡¯d come to the realization that had the boy wanted to harm her in some fashion he could have done it any number of times.  Like phasing her half through the train or what not.  She was calm right up until she heard the woman¡¯s voice again.

    ¡°Just tell her already Lucius.  You arrogant prick!  Quit playing with her emotions. Gah.  You were always such an ass.  How we ended up soulbound!¡±

    Lucius started looking around when Sarah jumped in her seat.  He held up his hands.

    ¡°Slow down.  I will never hurt you.¡±

    ¡°Did you hear her?¡±

    ¡°Hear who?¡±

    ¡°That woman!  She¡¯s¡­ rude.¡±

    Lucius reached out his hand and put it on Sarah¡¯s.  She felt the spark again.  Like they were meant to be like this, together, hand in hand.  She let their hands touch and linger.  She didn¡¯t even notice the train stop.  She heard bootsteps rush on the train.  She snapped her hand away.  It was a full group of the special forces soldiers that acted as a multi-national security force for the school.  Misha was at their head.  They had their assault rifles pointed at the spot Lucius was sitting in.  Sarah froze she was suddenly back in the police station with bullets flying at her.  The train started to shake around them.  She didn¡¯t notice the men and women of the security force being shoved aside, she didn¡¯t notice much of anything until she was looking up at Helen who was holding her cheeks.  Lucius looked Helen up and down.  He spoke.

    ¡°Vampire.  Nice.  Young though. She yours?¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes flicked to him.  Helen spoke.

    ¡°He¡¯s here, you can see him?¡±

    Sarah lifted her hand and pointed at Lucius.  He waved at her.

    ¡°He¡¯s right there, waving at you.¡±

    Misha waved a device up and down that looked half-magical and half-tech.

    ¡°The disturbance is here.¡±

    Helen waved her hand in the area where Lucius occupied, and it passed right through him to Sarah¡¯s perspective.  Helen shivered as her hand passed through it but couldn¡¯t really make contact.

    ¡°I can feel him here, but¡­ I can¡¯t see or touch him.¡±

    She stepped between Sarah and where Lucius had been pointed out and she started to move her hands in patterns and she cast a spell.  There was a flicker of the train lights and a wave of energy.  Lucius yawned.

    ¡°She¡¯s talented, but she¡¯s no Mariana, and no you.  Please tell me she¡¯s not teaching you magic.  Mariana, now I might actually be scared of her.¡±

    Sarah recovered from her flashback to the police station where she was shot and was starting to get angry again.

    ¡°Stop being so cryptic and tell me why you are here!¡±

    Lucius flipped his hands up.

    ¡°I wish I could, I wish I could, but technically I was ordered to keep all of this secret.  I was hoping I¡¯d jog your memory¡­ you know then I could tell you, but I wouldn¡¯t need too.  You kind of put me in an impossible situation.  Which is so typical of you.  Let¡¯s admit it, sometimes you fail to think through the consequences of your words and actions.¡±

    The assembled security team looked between Sarah and whatever she was speaking too.  Sarah was right pissed off now.  She stood up and started wagging her finger in Lucius¡¯s direction.

    ¡°That makes no bloody sense!  If I ordered you to keep it secret, why can¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re not you yet.¡±

    ¡°She was right, you are an arrogant prick and an arse!  At least tell me what the runes say!¡±

    Lucius blinked at her.

    ¡°What runes, dear?¡±

    Sarah threw her hands up and screamed softly.

    ¡°I just want to punch you!¡±

    ¡°Hmm, maybe you are remembering now.¡±

    ¡°Go!  Go away!¡±

    Lucius sighed.

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    He vanished.  The device that Misha was holding that had been making a racket since he arrived went silent.  He glanced between Sarah and Helen.  Helen spoke.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone, whatever it is.  Obviously magic had no effect.¡±

    Sarah grabbed her bag angrily.  Helen motioned for the team to move.

    ¡°We should get off; We¡¯re going to set the whole day of classes off schedule if we keep the station locked down.  It¡¯s gone no point now.¡±

    Sarah was almost off the train when she felt Helen¡¯s hand on her upper arm.  Sarah stopped on the platform.

    ¡°Ms. Aurelius I¡¯m going to be late for class.¡±

    Helen nodded.

    ¡°We need to talk after class, I need to know everything about the boy. What he has said, what he looks like.  I¡¯ll teach you a spell.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Helen released Sarah.

    ¡°Sorry you¡¯re having to deal with this, especially today.¡±

    Sarah blinked at her.

    ¡°What¡¯s so special about today?¡±

    Helen smiled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, just part of growing up.¡±

    Sarah blushed profusely and hurried up the stairs.  Being in a school with vampire teachers and at least one student was going to be embarrassing.  She couldn¡¯t even have her first period in peace.  Misha watched Sarah go then looked at Helen.  He spoke in Russian.

    ¡°What next, ma¡¯am?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to talk to my sister.  This is beyond my power.  Carry on with your usual day.  Keep track of any more sightings.¡±

    Misha nodded and motioned for the security team to follow him.  Helen flipped out her holo-tablet and sent a message to her assistant teacher to start the training without her.  She sighed and stepped onto the next train.  By the time she reached Eyre¡¯s office Carly was already there.  Helen closed the door behind her and sunk into the chair beside Carly with a defeated huff.   Carly and Eyre looked at her expectantly.  Helen threw up her hands.

    ¡°This is on you Eyre, or we¡¯ll need to call in a specialist.  My imprisonment spell did nothing.  We know for certain Sarah¡¯s not crazy though.  The spectral scanner was going crazy.  I felt him with my hand, it was cold, like I was touching ice.¡±

    ¡°Did you sense ill-intent?¡±

    Helen shook her head.

    ¡°Whatever he, it, wants, its not here to cause any harm, as far as I can sense.¡±

    Carly was watching Eyre intently.  Eyre leaned forward leaning her chin on her interlaced fingers.

    ¡°How did Sarah react?¡±

    Helen shrugged.

    ¡°She was fine until guns were pointed in her direction.  Had a bit of an incident I had to stop her.   She was getting mad it, whatever it is.  She mentioned a woman?  Something about she was right and whatever she is talking to was an arrogant prick and an arse.¡±

    Eyre pondered Helen¡¯s words for several seconds then sat up straight.

    ¡°We need Maria.¡±

    Carly raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Why do you need a student?  What can she do that you can¡¯t?¡±

    Helen glanced at Carly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Know what?¡±

    ¡°Maria can see ghosts and speak to the dead.  She¡¯s more than a necromancer.  She can open rifts into the deadlands.¡±

    Eyre nodded.  Carly opened and closed her mouth a few times.

    ¡°Why is she even here.  She¡¯s older then the both of you put together and she can do that?¡±

    Eyre shrugged.

    ¡°When a two-thousand-year-old vampire that my mother said she was frightened of sometimes and the Imperial Council voted to put to death for building an army of undead and tearing a hole in reality says she wants to go to high school, should I say no?  Unlike Helen and I she is the literal daughter of the first vampire.  Biological daughter, and he made her.  He made my mother.  She¡¯s not someone you annoy.¡±

    ¡°And she¡¯s living in my dorm, with my kids?¡±

    Helen motioned dismissively.

    ¡°Eyre¡¯s just paranoid, Maria is harmless.  At least she doesn¡¯t have antimatter weapons in this timeline.¡±

    Carly nearly fell out of her chair.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Eyre gave Helen the evil eye.  Helen ignored her and continued.

    ¡°In the original timeline before my mother messed with things, Maria was president of Earth and several extra-solar colonies.  She built the first faster than light star drive.  Was the first captain of an Earth ship to see the light of another sun with her own eyes¡­  First military captain to fight a space battle¡­  She also built two artificial intelligence fighters.  One of which made it to Andromeda in like a month.  What my sister isn¡¯t telling you is she¡¯s hoping Maria can repeat her feats but she doesn¡¯t want to jinx it by telling her or anyone else for that matter.  Truthfully, she¡¯s harmless right now.  She wouldn¡¯t hurt a fly, whoever erased her memory turned her into a pacifist.  Her ghost protector though¡­ not a pacifist, I recommend not threatening her.¡±

    Carly looked between the two vampires, not sure if they were trying to punk her.  Finally, she determined that they were both being honest to their knowledge.

    ¡°Okay.  So, you think if it¡¯s a ghost she can see it?¡±

    Eyre nodded.  Helen snapped her fingers.

    ¡°What if it is a spirit?¡±

    Eyre looked at her.  Carly spoke.

    ¡°Well yea, you just said you want Maria to try and talk to it.¡±

    Helen shook her head.

    ¡°No, a spirit.  You know.¡±

    Eyre frowned at Helen.

    ¡°What my baby sister, who is very ineloquent sometimes, is trying to say it could be a spirit, as in tree spirit, or animal spirit.¡±

    Carly sighed.

    ¡°Okay let¡¯s pretend I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Eyre smiled.

    ¡°Everything has a spirit.  Well everything that people think should have a spirit.  So your SEAL pin probably has a spirit associated with it.  One of Bravery, or duty¡­  That would explain why your necromancy spell failed.  And why Maria never saw it in Sarah¡¯s room.¡±

    Helen nodded.

    ¡°We need a werewolf.¡±

    Eyre nodded in agreement.

    ¡°We need a werewolf.¡±

    Helen glanced at Eyre, their eyes met.  Eyre nodded.  Helen spoke.

    ¡°Auntie A?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°She would definitely help.¡±

    Carly held up her hand.

    ¡°For the humans from another Earth in the crowd, what are we talking about?¡±

    Eyre smiled at her again.

    ¡°Our Aunt is a werewolf, and a vampire.  Aunt by marriage.¡±

    ¡°Why a werewolf?  Why can¡¯t you just go wiggle your fingers?¡±

    Eyre laughed softly.

    ¡°You need to be part spirit to affect spirits.  A werewolf.¡±

    Helen stood up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call Uncle Leander.¡±

    ¡°Tell him he¡¯s invited too.¡±

    Helen paused as at the door and glanced back at Carly.

    ¡°You might want to have a chat with Sarah.¡±

    ¡°About what?¡±

    ¡°I believe she just got her first period.

    ¡°Roger that.¡±

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Class Sigma Protocol

    Sarah fiddled with her holo-tablet looking at the time.  She glanced up at the dimensional transit coordinator.  If this took much longer, she¡¯d be late for soccer practice. She was far too polite a teenager to say anything about the delay.  She watched him typing at the computer.  The man who was unremarkable in most ways glanced up at her.

    ¡°Being upset will not make this any faster, young lady.¡±

    Sarah blushed and put her hands in her hoodie pockets and took a keen interest in a sign with the dimensional transit rules.  Not that she wasn¡¯t already intimately familiar with them.  Before she came to Earth 3, she¡¯d been paranoid she would bring something, or do something that would get her kicked out.  She heard him talking to the computer.  She glanced back.  It appeared he was rebooting the system.  Suddenly the turquoise lights around the dimensional gate flared to life and the portal opened.

    ¡°You¡¯re cleared to go through.¡±

    Sarah looked at the gateway hesitantly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to send me to an Earth where the Care bears are benevolent gods is it?¡±

    The operator frowned.

    ¡°No, it only goes one place.  Earth Prime.  Move it along.¡±

    Sarah winced and nodded.

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    Sarah walked through the gateway and felt the usual brief stomach turning jolt as her body shifted into another universe.  She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d ever get used to it.  When she arrived on the other side there was a woman in the black armor that Eyre favored in the field.  She had blue eyes and blonde hair.  She was beautiful. She was only a few years older than Sarah.  Maybe twenty.

    ¡°Sarah.¡±

    Sarah looked her up and down.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am?¡±

    Sarah noted a distinct German accent.

    ¡°I am Agent I¡¯m Lea Muller.  MANA.  I¡¯ll be your escort to and from practice.¡±

    Sarah wrapped her hand around the strap of her gym bag tightly.

    ¡°Is that necessary?¡±

    ¡°Considering last time, you came through there was an attempt to kidnap you, yes, yes, it is.  Please come with me, you¡¯re going to be late.  Really you should have been here fifteen minutes ago.  You really need to make an effort to be on time.¡±

    Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but she was used to people getting on her case for being late, even when it wasn¡¯t her fault.  Surely, they¡¯d just say well you should have been at the transit center half an hour early or something.  That was about her conversations about tardiness usually went.   Sarah just nodded.  She followed Lea towards an armored car that looked rather inconspicuous.  Sarah patted the seat beside her in the back of the car before getting comfortable and putting her seatbelt on.  Lea glanced at her in the mirror.

    ¡°I assure you; You¡¯re going to be safe today, Sarah.  I am well trained.¡±

    Sarah nodded to her and folded her hands in her lap and started looking out the window.  Munich on Earth Prime was a city of contradictions.  Parts were futuristic looking; parts were still stuck like they had been in World War Two.  The futuristic buildings reminded Sarah of a game she¡¯d played that she probably shouldn¡¯t have at her age called Cyberpunk. They were driving away from the graffiti covered wall that surrounded the German Exclusion Zone.  A place where no life could exist still, all these years later.  She supposed it was a better wall then the Berlin wall.  Lea didn¡¯t seem to be much of a conversationalist and was silent for the entire drive.

    Soccer practice was uneventful, in so much as nothing strange happened.  Sarah was treated like a part of the team.  Her dinner and chat with the girls at the pub had apparently convinced them she was alright and pure of race.  It shouldn¡¯t surprise her, she fit in everywhere she tried too.  People just liked her in general if she didn¡¯t do anything to anger them.  They were getting changed.  The ever present and watchful Lea was in the change room as well.  Karin approached Sarah.

    ¡°What¡¯s with her?¡±

    Sarah glanced towards Lea.

    ¡°She¡¯s here to protect me.¡±

    Karin glanced at Lea too.

    ¡°From what?¡±

    Sarah pondered what to say, then spoke.

    ¡°Just paranoid teachers.  That¡¯s all.  It will blow over.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to come to the pub again?¡±

    Sarah glanced at Lea who gave the slightest shake of her head.  Part of her was disappointed then she remembered the proudly flown Nazi flag and decided that maybe it wasn¡¯t so bad that she¡¯d have to head right back to the school.

    ¡°No, I have to go right back to the school.¡±

    Karin lowered her voice.

    ¡°Are you in some kind of trouble?¡±

    ¡°No, no there¡¯s just a boy who has been stalking me.¡±

    ¡°What a creep.  What does he look like?  We¡¯ll keep an eye out.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to show up here, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°If he does you tell the coach.  She¡¯s the school resource police officer.¡±

    ¡°They have those in Germany?  I mean in Munich?¡±

    Karin quirked her head to the side at Sarah¡¯s choice of words.   She lowered her voice.

    ¡°You are a believer in the Reich?¡±

    Sarah¡¯s slip of the tongue was going to be hard to explain away.  Should she tell them she¡¯s from another Earth?  Or just let them believe she was a Nazi true believer.  She closed her eyes and went with the easiest path forward letting them believe that about her made her sick to her stomach, but how much easier would this be if they just thought she was one of them?  She spoke a sentence she never would have believed in her life.

    ¡°May it last a thousand years.¡±

    Karin¡¯s eyes lit up as Sarah spoke.  Sarah closed her eyes slowly and her shoulders slumped.  All her talk about being better than them, her hatred of what they represented and the slightest sense of peer pressure she gave in.  It was done.  From this point forward they would think she was one of them.  She had finished tying her shoelaces by this time and slipped the strap of her gym bag over her shoulder.

    ¡°Better get going before the MANA Agent drags me out of here.¡±

    ¡°See you tomorrow, Sara.¡±

    Karin¡¯s voice lowered.

    ¡°Sister.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  She waved to Karin and the rest of the team.  Lea escorted her out and opened the door of the APC in disguise.  Sarah got in and tossed her bag on the seat.  She pulled on her seat belt.  Lea got in and started the car and set it into gear.  The MANA agent¡¯s blue eyes glanced at Sarah in the mirror.

    ¡°You do not seem the type to believe in the Reich.¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re from Earth Two.  Most people from there I¡¯ve met are disgusted by modern Germans here.¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t sure how to respond so she was silent for several seconds her eyes were on the seat in front of her then the flicked upwards and looked in the rear-view mirror.

    ¡°It is easier this way.¡±

    Lea nodded.

    ¡°We all make sacrifices to fit in, just make sure you don¡¯t start believing.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Lea seemed more relaxed now. Far more then on the ride to the practice pitch.  She smiled.

    ¡°I was impressed with skill on the pitch.  I was also impressed with the discretion you showed in avoiding discussing the real reason for my presence.  I will ensure that it is mentioned in my report today.  And if there is a bo- What the f¡­?¡±

    Lea was interrupted by a massive cloud of black smoke nearby.  The whole car shook with the ground.  Sarah gasped at the sight.  It reminded her of videos they¡¯d showed at school on the anniversary of 9-11.  Massive clouds of dust and smoke as the building collapsed.  The holographic dash of the car flared to life.

    ¡°All MANA Agents, all Powered individuals classified as combat capable are activated in Munich. You are tasked to Radlsteg and Tal.  All restrictions on power use by all individuals are lifted.  Class Sigma Protocol.  There has been PL15 event.  All other missions are canceled.  Proceed with all possible speed.¡±

    Lea flipped on the siren and accelerated.  Apparently, whatever Class Sigma Protocol meant; It meant Sarah¡¯s safety was secondary.  Lea spoke while ripping through traffic.

    ¡°When we get there, you stay out of danger.  I cannot ignore this but if anything happens to you Eyre will have my head.¡±

    They were very close and seemed to arrive first on the scene.  Lea did a handbrake skid to stop the car and stepped out of the vehicle.  Sarah stared as Lea¡¯s body suddenly became covered in red electricity, and she hovered above the pavement floating forward.  In the distance a giant figure was coming out of the dust and smoke.  It had to be at least twenty feet tall.  Lea didn¡¯t even ask for whoever it was to surrender like Sarah would expect as a law officer, she just reached out her hands and a ball of red electricity formed in them and hit whatever it was in the chest.

    The giant figure started charging towards them.  The violence of his movements and his size blasted the clouds of dust apart.  He was a massive man in a suit of some sort of technological power armor.  He reached out his hand and a blast of white energy flew towards Lea, and the car Sarah was sitting in.  Lea deflected it and it hit the roadway beneath her.  She wasn¡¯t able to redirect to the second blast that came from his left hand.  It struck her and the car hard.  Lea went flying into a school bus.  Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide when she noticed it still had children in it.  All seemed to be grade school age.  The car had skidded several feet, but she was unharmed.  It seemed it was made of something more than normal materials.  She was staring in fear at Lea who seemed to be dazed.

    The armored giant started stomping towards the school bus he was standing over Lea who was struggling to pull herself out of the twisted metal of the school bus.  Sarah saw the palms of his hands starting to glow.  She realized he didn¡¯t care who got hurt.  Something snapped in her and the fear evaporated and she lept out of the car.  Her eyes flared bright blue casting a glow in the shadow of the giant man.  Blue veins tore through her arms and hands.  Her limiter exploded off her, not even a minor hiccup to her accessing her full power.  A shimmering blue forcefield took the full brunt of the attack.  He tried again after a short recharge period, but his attacks had no effect on the shield.  He roared and lifted up a twisted transport truck trailer and it smashed against the barrier uselessly.  He yelled in German.

    ¡°You will run out of energy eventually little girl.¡±

    Sarah clenched her teeth as another blast of energy washed against the barrier she¡¯d created.  She screamed as the blue veins creeped up her neck and into her cheeks.  She yelled in between blasts.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Children get Agent out of here!  Now!¡±

    Another blast assaulted her barrier.  Sarah¡¯s feet skidded back towards the bus.  Sarah didn¡¯t dare look back to see if anyone listened to her.  He pounded on her barrier several more times with energy, thrown objects and his fists eventually.  Her entire body was covered in the blue veins by now.  Her eyes were glowing so brightly they were causing the pavement to reflect the glow.  Suddenly a car came flying from down the road and hit the armored man in the head.  He lost his balance and stumbled.  He caught himself on one of the buildings giant pieces of cement fell to the sidewalk below.

    The supervillain reached out his hand and blasted whatever had hit him then turned his attention back to Sarah.  She¡¯d looked behind her to make sure the bus was empty, and that Lea was safe.  She saw no signs of the children of the agent.  The barrier had collapsed when she lost focus.  He was now aiming his palms at her again.  Sarah dove for the ground as a blast obliterated the bus.  The only thing remaining were the frame and twisted pieces of charred yellow metal.

    Sarah heard screams.  She glanced back and the children had been cowering behind it.  She yelled at them.

    ¡°Get your driver and the agent out of here!¡±

    She desperately looked around for anything to help her out of this situation.  She knew she had about five seconds between blasts.  She¡¯d been counting it out as he bashed against her shield.  Through the dust she saw some broken trees.  She was so exhausted, but she needed to buy the kids time to escape.  The armored man¡¯s hands began to glow.

    ¡°Game over kid.  Should have stayed in the car.¡±

    Sarah lost control of her body momentarily and she watched her hand reach out and her eyes flared a brilliant green.  Green veins burned their way through her flesh as her body called to all the trees that lined the road to trap the man.  A dozen trees shot upwards.  Before the man could blast her, his arms were ripped to the sides and the beams hit only air.  Tree roots, the fungus that interwove itself under the pavement, plants from buildings, grass turned into vines.  Ripping into the armor twisting it.  The man was screaming in pain.  His suit and size were no match for the force of nature Sarah was able to muster.  He shrunk suddenly.  The vines lost their grip, and he crawled out of the mass of green and bark.  Pieces of shredded armor were falling to the broken pavement below.  He charged at Sarah whose body was still not her own.  Her body weaved to the side as he tried to strike her.   Sarah¡¯s fist glowed blue as her body enhanced her punch with a telekinetic barrier.  It shattered what remained of his helmet when she struck him in the side of the head.  He went down.  He shifted and her body kicked him in the face with another telekinetic barrier of her foot.  His face caved inwards as his bones broke.  Her foot then formed another barrier and slammed onto one of his arms and legs.  She couldn¡¯t control her body but she could see and hear everything.  The bones shattered.  It was a sickening sound. He stopped moving at that point.

    Sarah was able to control her movements again and the adrenaline keeping her on her feet evaporated and she collapsed to her knees.  She was struggling to get enough air to compensate for the actions her body had seemed to take on its own accord.  The man who she¡¯d just struck down was groaning in pain.  He was no longer a threat.  She knew that somehow.  Her body had shattered his bones to ensure he couldn¡¯t enlarge himself again without ripping his flesh apart.  It had done it deliberate and on purpose¡­ something inside her¡­  it knew about superpowers and how to prevent their owners from using them.  She dry heaved when she happened to catch a glimpse of the man¡¯s limbs bent at completely unnatural angles.

    Sarah couldn¡¯t have told anyone how long she sat there on her knees trying to catch her breath before the armed MANA response team arrived.  When she saw the guns aimed at her she was back in the police station again.  The ground started shaking.  Bullets were fired and were caught in midair, and the response team watched as their weapons shattered.  The team was lifted in the air and struggled helplessly against Sarah¡¯s instinctive response to the threat they possessed.

    Sarah was snapped out of her flashback suddenly and she was looking into a set of golden eyes.  A deathly cold hand was on her chin.  The woman who owned the golden eyes was a porcelain goddess.  She was wearing a black gown.  She smiled at Sarah.  Sarah saw fangs.  One of the agents approached and the woman lifted her other hand and the agent collapsed to his knees holding his head and began to scream.  The woman spoke, Sarah was sure she was no mortal.  She would have known it without seeing her, just hear her voice.

    ¡°This one is beyond you mortals.  She is under our protection.¡±

    The woman turned her attention to Sarah.

    ¡°I see great power in you, child.  I sense a presence I haven¡¯t felt for¡­ millennia.  I see why the Empress is so¡­ protective.¡±

    Sarah had no idea how she knew this woman¡¯s name.  Or how she knew how to speak in ancient Egyptian but she did.

    ¡°Isis.¡±

    The woman smiled again.  Her fangs still extended.

    ¡°Yes, you are more then you appear little mortal.  Taking down a PL 15 in a tech suit, on your own.  Very impressive.¡±

    More armed MANA response units were appearing, some in power armor.  Things were starting to align against even a being of Isis¡¯s power.  MANA command didn¡¯t seem to know how to respond.  A voice called from the alleyway behind Sarah.  It was Lea.

    ¡°Stand down.  She¡¯s a student at Aurelius Academy.  As per Protocol Sigma, ¡®All¡¯ super powered individuals rated for combat are to respond regardless of limitation on power usage.  She is a PL 8 with combat training.  She responded.¡±

    Lea showed her identification.  Isis released Sarah¡¯s chin and patted her on the shoulders.

    ¡°I know we will see each other again¡­ child.  See that you keep your fear under control. The mortals are a paranoid lot.¡±

    Isis walked through the wall of MANA agents.  They parted giving her as much distance as they could.  Sarah watched the goddess leave.  Lea kneeled down beside Sarah and put her hand on the girl¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Thank you for what you did.  You were very brave.  They shouldn¡¯t have discharged their weapons at you.  They violated protocol.¡±

    She looked at Sarah¡¯s ankle which had black scorch marks where the limiter used to be.

    ¡°What happened to your limiter?¡±

    Sarah spoke without thinking.

    ¡°It was in my way.¡±

    Lea stood up and offered her hand to Sarah.

    ¡°Come on, lets get you back to school and let Ops sort out this mess.¡±

    Sarah took her hand.  Lea pulled her to her feet and helped her towards the car.  Sarah¡¯s body was completely exhausted from channeling so much energy in such a short span.  A MANA agent blocked her path.

    ¡°Agent Muller, the situation is not contained.  We had a PL 20 spike on the sensors.¡±

    Lea looked up at the armored man.

    ¡°Commander, with all due respect, I¡¯m injured, and she is only a PL 8 who just fought of a PL 15 in a suit of power armor, alone.  She¡¯s exhausted.  Neither of us will be of any use against a PL 20, let alone a PL 2.  I need to get her back to the academy so they can check her for injuries, and they can patch me up.¡±

    He held up his wrist looking at his holo-tablet¡¯s screen.

    ¡°Where is her limiter.  I can¡¯t find it.¡±

    ¡°I disengaged it as per Sigma protocol.  I knew she could create barriers and there were civilians to be protected.¡±

    ¡°Protocol says combat has ended the device needs to be reengaged.¡±

    ¡°She can barely walk; Do you really think she¡¯s going to be any threat whatsoever in the ten minutes it will take me to get her through the portal?  It was destroyed when the suspect shot me.¡±

    ¡°We need to put one on her.¡±

    Lea rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Not going to wait thirty minutes to get someone out here to do that when I can get her to the academy in ten minutes where it will just need to be taken off.  Don¡¯t like it, take it up with the one giving me my orders.¡±

    ¡°Who is that?¡±

    ¡°You know, the Headmistress of Aurelius Academy, the Former world president, the former director of MANA, the one who formed it¡­  Eyre Aurelius?  I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll love to hear how you made me wait with an exhausted possibly injured student for a limiter.¡±

    The man went a bit pale and motioned her past without another word.  Lea helped Sarah into the front seat of the armored car. She pulled out and drove around the security area.  She glanced at Sarah how was so exhausted she could barely keep her head up.  Sarah had her head leaning against the glass of the car.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the Headmistress¡¯s game is, but you are no PL 8.  You¡¯re the strongest super I¡¯ve seen in my lifetime.  Even Lady Isis noticed it.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s nodded slightly.

    ¡°I knew her¡­ I¡¯ve never met her¡­ and I knew her.  She has a daughter, has golden eyes just like hers.  She¡¯s not a vampire¡­ she¡¯s a two-year-old.  Isis¡­ knows me.  We¡¯re friends. But I¡¯ve never met her¡­ how is that possible?¡±

    Lea¡¯s brow creased.

    ¡°Look Sarah, I have no idea what is going on here, but you¡¯d best keep quiet about that.  After what happened back there, MANA is going to be very curious about you.¡±

    Sarah turned her head to Lea slowly.

    ¡°I thought MANA were the good guys.¡±

    Lea shook her head.

    ¡°MANA looks out for MANA and Earth Gov.  That¡¯s the way it¡¯s always been.  Shoot first, ask questions later, like when they attacked you.  I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t get hit.  There would have been hell to pay, especially with Isis there and saying you¡¯re under the protection of the Vampires.  MANA thinks its all that but the vampires¡­  the vampires they could crush the world under their boot heels.  Just keep your head down, keep your mouth shut and do not trust the Headmistress, she¡¯s their empress and the worst of the lot of them when it comes to half-truths and manipulation.  You don¡¯t bring a multiverse to heel without some major leg breaking.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s own brow furrowed.  She knew Eyre could be trusted.  Just like she knew she could trust Isis and Helen.  Just like she knew she could love Amee regardless of their matching genders.  It was all so confusing.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong.  Eyre¡­ the headmistress, she is a good person.  The best of people.¡±

    Lea glanced at Sarah.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fall for her act kid.  She¡¯s got plot within plot going.¡±

    Sarah was so exhausted she had fallen asleep before Lea finished her sentence.  Lea carried Sarah across the dimensional boundary after they arrived at MANA Headquarters.  They were met by Misha on the other side.  He rushed forward when he saw Lea struggling with Sarah¡¯s weight.   He took her in his strong arms.  Lea leaned on his shoulder as he led them to the waiting SUV.  He looked over at Lea who was holding her side now.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    Lea glanced at Misha.

    ¡°Super attack in Munich.¡±

    ¡°Targeting her?¡±

    Lea shook her head.

    ¡°No, seemed random.  Just need to make sure Sarah is unhurt.  I need medical attention though.¡±

    ¡°Will take you to hospital.¡±

    Misha called it in to the hospital. Then drove straight there.  Lea didn¡¯t even get a chance to limp three steps before she was in a wheelchair.  Another arrived for Sarah which Misha transferred her too.  The orderly who came for Sarah looked up at him.

    ¡°Are you coming sir?¡±

    Misha shook his head.

    ¡°No, need to report, take good care, dah?¡±

    The orderly nodded and Misha drove off.

    *****

    The next morning found Carly and Helen sitting across the desk from Eyre who was looking over a report on her computer with her vivid green eyes.  She looked to the pair after she finished.  Carly leaned forward and had her hands on the desk.

    ¡°Was he after Sarah?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°No, there was prison transport to Earth-18 that was attacked.  This was a diversion.  Sarah isn¡¯t making any friends with the terrorist network though.  She finished their distraction off so quickly the diversion failed.¡±

    Helen shook her head.

    ¡°Sis, she is no PL 8, and MANA has to know that by now.  Hell, there was a PL 20 spike during the battle.  She literally vaporized her limiter.¡±

    Eyre frowned.

    ¡°Its worse than that.  I had a call from Isis this morning.  The Imperial Council is concerned about Sarah now.¡±

    ¡°Concerned?¡±

    ¡°Isis has declared she is under vampire protection.  Formally!¡±

    Helen shook her head.

    ¡°She can¡¯t do that, you¡¯re the Empress only you can declare that.¡±

    Eyre sighed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the political capital to disagree with her right at this moment.  They¡¯re pissed about Korea still.  I¡¯m going to have to just go along with it.  I¡¯ve already endorsed her decision with the council to Earth Gov.  Earth Gov has ordered MANA to be hands off her from now on.¡±

    ¡°As in, all hands off? No protection on Earth Prime?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°Only Agents approved by the Council and myself are to act as security for her.  If she causes any trouble, it is up to us to enforce the laws with her.  She¡¯s not even a vampire for Christ¡¯s sake.  What is Isis thinking, she¡¯s just a human.¡±

    Helen pushed her chair back and stood up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have a word with that Egyptian bitch.¡±

    Eyre pointed at Helen¡¯s chair.

    ¡°Sit your ass down, child.  She¡¯s over six thousand years old and a direct creation of Sextus.  Neither of us can do anything to stop her.  The only reason she lets me be Empress is out of respect for tradition, and our mother.  And let me be clear, she is the reason the council even tolerates me and my antics, they fear her.  Let¡¯s not push it.¡±

    Carly looked between the two vampires and Helen glared at Eyre when her sister called her a child.  She threw up her hands and sat down.

    ¡°Is Sarah safe?¡±

    Eyre nodded.

    ¡°Safer than she was.  Isis rarely makes her presence known to MANA and Earth Gov.  When she does, they tend to listen to her because frankly they have no idea how they would enforce their will on her.¡±

    ¡°What about the terrorists who were after her?  They¡¯re going to know how strong she is.¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°Not necessarily.  Lea Muller, the Agent who was present during the fight has said all Sarah did was create a barrier and grow some plants.  Neither of which on their own would constitute a PL 20.  I suspect that was when she obliterated her limiter.  I asked Lea what Sarah said about the limiter and she told me that Sarah said: ¡®It was in my way.¡¯  I still think we¡¯re dealing with two different Sarah¡¯s.  The one I see in my class¡­  she doesn¡¯t have this kind of control.  She has the raw power but to be able to form a telekinetic barrier to punch and kick with?  No.  She did the big barrier as described by witnesses.  The plants, the actual fight with the suspect.  No, that was this other presence inside her.¡±

    ¡°Basically, as far as the reports go, she used a PL 8 barrier and a PL 8 plant growth.  All within the pounds of her skill and age.  I¡¯m fairly sure Isis had something to do with the official reports looking like they do.¡±

    Helen shook her head.

    ¡°She can¡¯t be trusted.¡±

    ¡°My mother told me Isis was dangerous, unpredictable and her sworn enemy.  Yet when I talk to Isis she approaches my mother with something akin to sisterhood, and a great deal of respect.  I am not sure where the disconnect happened.  My mother¡¯s journal from the alternate timeline refers to Isis as her friend and confidant.  I¡¯m not sure what to believe, but what I do know is she wants to protect Sarah as much as we do, I¡¯m just not sure why.¡±

    Carly rubbed her temples.

    ¡°What do we tell Sarah?¡±

    Eyre shook her head.

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Eyre, she met Isis.  She spoke to her.  I heard her talking to Amee.  She knows who Isis is.  Eyre.  She nearly killed a PL 15 in power armor, and she didn¡¯t have a scratch on her.  I know no PL 8 fourteen-year-old with almost zero training can do that.  She knows it too.  She has too.  Soon she will start suspecting us of hiding something.  I¡¯m not going to be the reason she snaps.¡±

    Carly was standing by now her fingers spread on Eyre¡¯s desk.

    ¡°I¡¯m on her side from this minute forward.¡±

    Eyre frowned at Carly but a glance at Helen told her that her sister agreed with Carly¡¯s sentiment.

    ¡°Fine, but whatever happens to her is on your heads, both of you.¡±

    Eyre threw her pen at her desk.  Carly nodded.

    ¡°I will gladly trust Sarah¡¯s judgment over yours.  By the way, that ghost boy, he rescued the mouse she resurrected from the lab.  It¡¯s still alive.  You might want to piss off the next messiah, but I sure as hell don¡¯t.  I suggest you don¡¯t try to take him back.¡±

    Carly stormed out.  Helen and Eyre stared at each other as the ramifications of what Carly just told them sunk in.

 Earth Prime - 2026 - An evening with a Goddess

    Sarah was in her soccer uniform sitting on the bench in the locker room. She had just finished tying her shoes. The rest of her team were already out on the pitch. She was running late tonight because they had to scramble to find her a limiter she could use. She stood up and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror only her reflection was wrong. She had long curly red hair and emerald, green eyes that reminded her of the Headmistress¡¯s. She stumbled back but when she looked back it was just her platinum blonde hair and silver eyes. She shook her head. She¡¯d been out of sorts since the battle with the power armored super yesterday.

    The game was starting after dark tonight so her protector this evening wasn¡¯t Lea but was another woman with a British accent. She was carrying the strangest silver sword. Sarah was surprised to recognize her. She couldn¡¯t place where they had met. But she¡¯d greeted the woman in a strange language and referred to her as Cindie. Cindie was a vampire. She knew that too. The vampire was currently pacing her from the shadows, Sarah also knew that. None of which she had any explanation for. She reached the pitch just in time for the start of the remembrance for those injured and killed in the super attack yesterday. The principal of the school her team was associated with was speaking.

    ¡°I would like you all to stand and pray for the quick recovery of those hurt in the attack by the super terrorist yesterday here in Munich.¡±

    He closed his eyes, and everyone observed a moment of silence. The principle spoke again.

    ¡°I would also like to acknowledge the heroics of a young woman who is part of our school¡¯s football team, she is graciously on loan from the Aurelius Academy. Sara please step forward.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s ears turned a bright shade of red as she stepped out in front of her team.

    ¡°Sara is in grade 9 at Aurelius Academy and is responsible for saving the lives of forty-two students from our neighboring school, Adolf Hitler Primary school, during yesterday¡¯s attack. Please, if I could get the families of the students, she saved to stand so she can see how many lives she impacted.¡±

    Over half of her team stood up, along with a good portion of their supporters. It seemed most had siblings on that bus. Sarah felt tears forming in her eyes. This was the first time she¡¯d ever felt like her powers were anything but a burden and a danger to those around her. The principle spoke again.

    ¡°Sara, you are an example to our current and future superheroes. Thank you.¡±

    Her team started clapping and cheering for her. The crowd followed. Sarah blushed. She was inundated by hugs, pats on the back and whispers of thanks. Once everything settled down.

    ¡°Now, if I could have the captains of both teams on the field for the official coin toss.¡±

    Sarah sat on the bench. She was supposed to be starting but she¡¯d confided in the coach she was still exhausted from the day before. Her coach was one of the responding officers during the attack and hadn¡¯t even questioned Sarah on it. She just nodded. Sarah hated sitting on the bench, but she also hated letting her team down and tonight, she would have been dead weight. During half time she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up. It was her nan whom she bearhugged.

    ¡°Nan! You came!¡±

    ¡°Aye lass, your granda would ne¡¯r let this pass, see you play in person. You are going to play aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Sarah glanced at her team.

    ¡°I¡¯m kind of tired after yesterday, nan.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, your granda might be inclined to forgive you seeing as he just saw an entire crowd cheer for you. I just knew you¡¯d be a hero. I knew it in my bones.¡±

    ¡°Where is grand dad?¡±

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s somewhere around here getting some food. Don¡¯t you worry he¡¯ll make sure he gets some Sarah time before we leave.¡±

    Sarah hugged her nan again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let coach know I¡¯m feeling up to playing in the second half.¡±

    Her nan put her hands on Sarah¡¯s cheeks.

    ¡°Now don¡¯t you go overexerting yourself. I know what you did yesterday. Barrier my foot. I saw those trees. You stopped him yourself didn¡¯t yea?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s my bonny lass. You are a Grey. We don¡¯t know how to stand by and let innocents get hurt. It goes against our grain.¡±

    Sarah hugged her nan again as her team started to file back onto the bench. Her nan waved as Sarah ran towards her coach to let her know she felt up to playing at least for some of the game.

    *****

    Cindie was riding beside Sarah. A man was driving. Sarah knew Cindie was a Seer. She wasn¡¯t sure what that meant but she knew it meant she was important. She also realized they were not heading towards the MANA HQ. She looked at Cindie.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°Isis would like to see you.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t I get in trouble for being late to school?¡±

    Cindie shook her head.

    ¡°The Empress is aware of the request and has agreed.¡±

    Cindie continued to look around the car as they drove. She spared a few glances to this strange teenager who knew her name, knew she was a vampire and spoke the middle English of her age perfectly. The sixth sense that earned her a place among the immortals was telling her this girl was more then she appeared. They arrived at a mansion on the outskirts of Munich. The man opened the door for Sarah. Cindie stayed in the car. Sarah walked up a set of stairs and reached out her hand and pressed the glowing green doorbell button. A larger man answered the door. He was in a black suit. The man reminded Sarah of Misha. He didn¡¯t speak he just motioned her inside. Sarah entered the mansion proper. She stopped short when she saw a panther. Its fur was so black it seemed to absorb all light. The man pointed to the panther. After some hesitance Sarah followed the panther deeper into the mansion.

    Sarah jumped when there was a loud crash. Then she realized it was just thunder. She heard the downpour start. An autumn storm had been rolling in, she¡¯d seen the clouds. She put her hand to her chest and caught her breath. The panther¡¯s tail twitched, almost in annoyance. Sarah hurried to catch up. They arrived in what could be described as a study. Isis was standing near a roaring fire. Sarah wanted to rush forward to ward off the evening¡¯s chill. She resisted the urge and paused just inside the doorway. Isis had been looking at the fire and nudging a log with an iron rod. The panther casually strolled towards Isis and promptly sat down beside her. Its emerald, green eyes were far too intelligent for an animal. The way it looked at Sarah unnerved her.

    In fact, this whole situation unnerved her. It was like all the horror movies she¡¯d seen. Girl gets lured to a creepy out of the way mansion on a dark and stormy night. Scary host, strange animals. It had all the hallmarks. Sarah flinched when another crack of thunder shook the house. Isis looked down at the panther.

    ¡°Besho, do not be bashful.¡±

    Sarah gasped when she saw the panther¡¯s form shift and twist. When it finished changing, she realized that it was actually an African woman with short, cropped hair. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a leather jacket. Isis was wearing a white dress. Her black hair was tired back into a high ponytail bound with a golden band covered in gems the likes of which Sarah had never seen in her lifetime. Besho as Isis had referred to the panther leaned on the back of an armchair. Her eyes had not changed from a cat¡¯s even as a human. Isis spoke. Sarah could not get past the commanding tone the woman had. Eyre was old and strange, but this woman¡­ vampire was like a statue when she didn¡¯t move.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°I understand you performed adequately in your game of skill this evening. No doubt below your usual performance, after the excitement of last evening.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s left hand crossed just below her newly blossoming chest and wrapped around her right arm. She mumbled an affirmative. Isis fully turned to her, and Sarah was caught in the gaze of the goddess¡¯s golden eyes. Sarah had seen that kind of age before in her own reflection when she wasn¡¯t focused on it. Isis spoke.

    ¡°So shy, so quiet. So human.¡±

    Sarah opened her mouth and closed a few times, finally getting enough nerve to speak.

    ¡°I am sorry if I did something wrong¡­ umm, your holiness?¡±

    Isis¡¯s lips parted in a smile, breaking the illusion of a porcelain statue when her teeth and fangs appeared.

    ¡°Isis will do, child, Isis will do.¡±

    Isis walked towards her. Her marble like feet clicking against the stone floor of the study. The pair were eye to eye. Sarah and Isis were a match in height.

    ¡°So much power, such a young child. I sense someone tried to stifle your growth. Rob you of your birthright. Foolish, power like yours yearns to be free.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m just a PL8, I¡¯m not special.¡±

    Isis laughed. Besho looked disturbed. She seemed ill at ease with this whole situation. Isis¡¯s laughter calmed and she finished her circle around Sarah.

    ¡°Tell me of my daughter child. You are thinking about her right now.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s silver eyes flicked to Isis who simply nodded. Isis started to chuckle again.

    ¡°Humans, always so ashamed. As if they¡¯re the only ones who feel like they do.¡±

    Isis seemed to concentrate more.

    ¡°Hmm, your mind is a maze within an enigma. How do you function?¡±

    Isis chuckled as Sarah thought I don¡¯t.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t working. Your mind is far too chaotic. No doubt a defense mechanism. I am sorry child, but I need to speak with someone else. I just need to¡­¡±

    Isis brushed Sarah¡¯s stray bangs behind one of her ears. Sarah¡¯s world went black.

    *****

    When she woke she was wearing a strange dress. The weave was rough her feet were dangling over the side of a dock and she heard Maria¡¯s voice, her roommate was speaking in Latin. Sarah¡¯s eyes traced from Maria¡¯s pale feet up her legs to a white dress that matched her own. Maria looked¡­ alive and younger. Maria touched Sarah¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Did you hear me?¡±

    Sarah shook her head then her eyes caught sight of something out of a movie. In the distance she could see sleek silver ships lifting up into the air. Around them on the docks were bipedal dinosaurs going about their day. The dock looked new, the water was fresh and clear. She saw a flash in the sky and a silver vortex formed. Maria nudged her again.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Sarah shook her head. This all seemed so wrong, but it all felt real.

    ¡°What Maria?¡±

    ¡°Maria? You forgot my name too? Some sister you are.¡±

    ¡°Sister? Maria, this is making no sense, this is all wrong.¡±

    ¡°The name is Mariana, if I wanted to shorten it, I would.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being¡­ more forceful than usual.¡±

    Maria gave her a shove.

    ¡°Careful I don¡¯t dunk you in the water.¡±

    Sarah quirked her head to the side and looked at the infectious grin of her friend. This is how Maria was supposed to be. She felt it in her core. Nothing else here was right. The place was wrong. Maria was right. Then she realized that this is what Maria was like before her memories were erased. Cheerful and self-confident. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she looked at Maria as she was. How much her friend had lost. It made her think maybe what her parents did to her wasn¡¯t so bad compared to what had happened to others. Maria, or Mariana as she was here touched Sarah¡¯s cheeks with her palms brushing the tears away with her thumbs.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just realizing what you lost.¡±

    Maria shrugged then pushed Sarah¡¯s shoulder gently.

    ¡°Its time to wake up sis. World is waiting for you.¡±

    *****

    Sarah was ripped out her slumber. She had a moment of panic as she had no idea where she was. Her dream had felt so real. More real than real life. She could make out the motionless silhouette of a woman sitting on the bed beside her. Then Isis¡¯s golden eyes appeared in the darkness. She jumped in spite of herself. Isis touched her check gently.

    ¡°You are safe Sarah. Thank you. I found out what I need to know.¡±

    Sarah looked around the posh bedroom she found herself in then back to Isis.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Nor should you be expected to, child. You will stay the night. The storm has gotten worse. In the morning Agent Muller will take you to the Academy. Will you be alright on your own? Your dreams are troubled, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    Sarah blinked at her.

    ¡°I am the Queen of Dreams child. Or if the lullaby¡¯s of Egypt are to be believed the Lady of Nightmares.¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand them, why do I think I can trust you, ma¡¯am?¡±

    ¡°Because you and I are bound in a way. You see thousands of years ago I met someone very much like you, same eyes, same hair. Same body. I had been hunting for her for millennia. The Atlantean she was called. Then one day, who should wander into my temple? Her child. What a stroke of luck, my prey would come to me. I had to meet her, a woman with such power. Power unseen since before the dawn of time. Power identical to yours.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. I¡¯m a PL8.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Of course. You have had a rough few days, child. You should rest. You will need it for what is to come. Know this, my domain will always be a haven for you. If you are in danger, if you are lost, you come here, and I will protect you. As I would my Empress.¡±

    Sarah glanced out the window at the downpour. Isis was about to leave but Sarah called out to her.

    ¡°Ms. Isis?¡±

    ¡°Isis is fine, child. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Did you know Maria¡­ Mariana before she lost her memories, can she ever get them back?¡±

    Isis¡¯s golden eyes scanned Sarah, looking for something Sarah could not understand.

    ¡°What do you know of Mariana Aurelius?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my roommate. I had a dream¡­ a vision of her when she was younger. She seemed so much happier. Wait¡­ you abstained from a vote to kill her. Why would you do that?¡±

    Isis sat back down on the bed and crossed her legs.

    ¡°She broke the law. I could not endorse her actions. Nor could I condemn her for saving the world from the corrupter. I made the only vote I could, I chose not to.¡±

    ¡°You normally wouldn¡¯t answer questions from a human, would you?¡±

    ¡°I still would not, you¡¯re not human. You¡¯re something more.¡±

    ¡°You can read my mind¡­ could you fix Maria¡¯s?¡±

    Isis shook her head.

    ¡°Mariana is afflicted with something that is outside my realm of expertise, child.¡±

    Sarah blinked.

    ¡°I thought you were a goddess, the oldest vampire alive.¡±

    ¡°You are wrong on both accounts, the eldest of us is named Chomaggus. He is¡­ no longer normal looking. Let me show you something.¡±

    Isis started chanting and weaving her fingers in an intricate pattern. Sarah knew she was causing an illusion spell. She knew she could do the same if she wished. As Isis finished speaking an image appeared. It was three vampires in a sea of shadowy figures with a tornado of darkness at the center. One was a red-haired teenager who seemed familiar, the one she recognized immediately it was Maria, but it wasn¡¯t the Maria she knew, she was self-assured and wearing armor. The last vampire was an older version of Lucius, her stalker.

    ¡°I¡­ know the red-haired one, I¡¯m not sure from where, but the blonde-haired man, he looks like an older version of a boy who¡¯s been stalking me at school.¡±

    Isis tapped the illusion and zoomed into Lucius.

    ¡°That is Lucius. He is the soulbound of the red-haired woman. He¡¯s been dead since 1942, I¡¯m not sure how he is at the school, perhaps his spirit has not moved on. I see why he is drawn to you.¡±

    ¡°Who is the red-haired woman? She looks barely older than me, she¡¯s so small. She looks so familiar.¡±

    Isis smiled.

    ¡°That would be because she is the mother of your headmistress.¡±

    Sarah nodded; It made so much sense. The hair the eyes. Isis moved the illusion forward and it reached a point where Maria was doing battle with the black tornado. She was flung outwards towards a stone alter. Isis watched Sarah¡¯s eyes seeing no sign of reaction she moved the illusion back and then showed her it slower this time. Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide when she spotted a ghostly image of Maria pushed back further then her body.

    ¡°Her soul was pushed out?¡±

    Isis nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure its slowly reforming itself, but souls are only of a portion what makes us, who we are. The Child of Lilith finished what the betrayer started. When the rest of her soul returns fully to her body, who will she be? It is a difficult question to answer.¡±

    Sarah felt like Isis was leaving something unsaid but she was feeling more and more like she was pressing her luck with this immortal goddess¡¯s patience.

    ¡°Thank you. For showing me this Isis.¡±

    Isis waved her hand through the illusion and it evaporated. Sarah went to ask another question, but she stopped short. Isis smiled.

    ¡°Yes, I am an Archmage, much like you. Most Imperial vampires have a substantial talent for manipulating reality. Though none of us can tap into the font of creation directly like you. In fact you tap into energies that would destroy me instantly should I touch them the same way you do. It must take a terrible toll on you.¡±

    Sarah remembered the burning sensation from the veins and nodded. Isis adjusted Sarah¡¯s hair gently. It felt strange but Sarah felt a kinship with the ancient vampire.

    ¡°You will get better with time. You should rest, The Empress will expect you on the campus tomorrow.¡±

    Sarah nodded and laid back down and fell asleep shortly after her head hit her pillow. When she woke again it was to sunlight steaming through the window of the room she found herself in, the night before seemed like a half-forgotten dream. She wondered if Isis had even really been in the room. She stretched. Before she could do much more then that the door to the room was knocked open by a large black panther paw. The panther, who she now knew was named Besho motioned for her to follow. Sarah followed Besho out of the room and down a hallway, then down a large staircase. The house was lit by LED bulbs, the windows seemed to be blacked out. That seemed strange to Sarah because Eyre, Helen, and Maria all waked in sunlight as easily as she did.

    Besho came to a stop by a dining room table. There was a place set for her already. Sarah sat down and within five minutes two eggs just the way she liked them, bacon and an orange juice were served. She glanced around then started to eat. When she finished, she glanced at Besho who motioned her head towards the front door.

    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    The panther rubbed up against her legs and sat back down. The emerald green cat eyes followed her path towards the door. Her gym bag and shoes were waiting for her.

 Earth 3 - 2026 - Echoes from the Past

    In the week since her overnight stay at Isis¡¯s home Sarah¡¯s dreams had gotten more vivid and were starting to overlap with the waking world.  Glimpses of forgotten memories in mirrors.  Echo like sounds from long ago places.  If she happened to drift off she would travel somewhere into her past lives, or so she assumed that was what she was experiencing.  She had been packing for her fall break trip to Moscow when she sat down and rested her eyes.  Of course, when she opened them next, she found her consciousness somewhere else.  A flash brighter then the sun blinded her briefly and she shielded her eyes.  When she blinked again the sky was black.  The only light was the angry glow of on the top of a mountain, no a volcano.

    She looked around herself and saw her father, no, not her father but whomever memories she was reliving. She had seen him before. They were on a boat¡­ a ship of some kind something ancient.  Further back were people.  She could hear wailing and sobs above decks.  Her, the man who she would call father for she had no other name for him, looked empty.  As if this catastrophic event had no impact on him.  He rubbed his beard before starting to pass out clothes dunked in a water barrel to the inhabitants of the ship.  She could hear the people around her starting to choak and cough as ash began to fill the air.  Sarah felt nothing.  As if she had no need to breath.  She felt a weight on her back and she glanced over her shoulder and a sword hung in a sheath across it.

    The coughing of the people around her grew worse.  Not knowing what else to do she rushed to her ancestor¡¯s side and picked up two handfuls of moistened masks.  She ran towards the stairs above deck and hesitated.  What of the hateful sun?  The thought made her freeze.  Why should she fear the sun?  She pushed past it and rushed above decks.  Handing out masks, to the children first, then to the adults.  The sun was no where to be seen.  It was blocked by the black clouds of ash that filled the air.  The people around her were dressed as if they were in an old movie about Rome.  Everywhere Sarah looked she saw faces stained black with the ash, and eyes wide in terror.  She pushed on and helped everywhere she could.  Soon the ship passed out of the densest of ash clouds.  As sun came in to sight Sarah felt her skin start to burn.  Smoke started to rise from her clothes.  She rushed below decks.  Her father looked at her and shook his head slightly.

    ¡°You know better daughter.¡±

    Sarah rubbed the red spots on her arms and nodded.  The man bit his hand and held it out.  Sarah bit her lip and tried to resist but it was too compelling.  She grabbed his hand.  As the blood passed her lips it was if she was eating from the table of the gods.  Her body tingled and the wounds form the sun burns healed rapidly.  He pulled his hand away.  Sarah like any addict tried to hold on but her father was too strong.  He shook his head at her again.

    ¡°It is as if you¡¯ve never fed before daughter.¡±

    Sarah licked her lips and blushed.  She¡¯d never been addicted to anything in her life but right now she would do anything to get even a drop of this man¡¯s precious blood.  After a few seconds the blinding hunger faded and became a dull ache.  One she had been feeling this whole dream.  Was this the man who turned Maria as well?  Was this what Maria felt every minute of every day?  Helen?  Eyre?  Isis?  How did they stay sane?  She ran her tongue along the bottom of the fangs.  Then she started to notice other things about this new experience.  Colors were more vivid.  Sounds were crisper.  She breathed in through her nose and was overwhelmed with the smell of the people around her.  She smelled... fear.  She looked up to the man who had fed her the blood.  The father.

    He was not pale.  Not like Maria, or Eyre.  More like Helen.  He had unruly brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard.  Not long at all.  If anything, he reminded her of those pictures she¡¯d seen of Jesus in church.  She watched him tending to the humans around them and thought he might be one and the same.

    Another thing she noticed was that Maria was nowhere to be seen.  The memories of Rome she found herself in always seemed to feature her.  She pondered how tall he must be as she looked up to him. Then realized that she was short, almost a foot shorter than her own body.  She approached the man again and spoke.

    ¡°Where is Maria¡­  Mariana?¡±

    Her words may as well have been a sword through is heart as the expression his face turned to one of very deep sorrow.  He looked her up and down.

    ¡°You will never forgive me will you?¡±

    Sarah blinked at him.  What had happened to their family?  She knew this was the father.  There was a mother.  A woman who seemed to be the opposite of her own.  Never raised her voice, never felt her bad about anything.  Just pure parental love.  Same with this man.  He sat down this distance, or pain seemed to weigh heavily on him.  His work tending the injured appeared to be complete as he could manage, and he looked up at her.

    ¡°You were right.  Rome is too small for the both of us.  Your presence is making the council uncomfortable after your threats, even these years later.  When we arrive in Rome, you can do what you wish, but remember our agreement.  You will never return to that village in Gaul.¡±

    Sarah saw a deep sadness in the man¡¯s eyes.  She kneeled and wrapped her hands around his.  If she were to analyze it later from the perspective of an adult, she may see a parallel between this woman¡¯s relationship with her family and her own.  For now, she just couldn¡¯t resist trying to support him.  Blood tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked at their intertwined hands.  His eyes travelled from their hands up her arms and to her eyes.

    ¡°So, there is kindness left in your heart after all that has been said.¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t sure how to respond and she reached out and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.  She heard bones crack and realized just how strong this woman had been.  She released him quickly.  Her hand went to her mouth.  She started touching his shoulders which seemed to pop back into their sockets.  He nodded to her.

    ¡°You are not in control of your abilities today.¡±

    Sarah motioned towards the volcano that still spewed ash and pyroclastic flow.  He nodded.

    ¡°You know my child, it is not angry Gods, just the Earth moving beneath our feet.¡±

    Sarah quirked her head to the side.  How would this man know such things in this time?  She nodded.  She was no geologist but she understood it to a point.

    ¡°If you knew why didn¡¯t you warn anyone?¡±

    He lowered his voice.

    ¡°It is not like you to care, child.  I thought you had long since cast humans into the food category.¡±

    Sarah blinked again.  Who was this woman?  In all the memories she¡¯d seen her she had been kind.  What had changed?  Where did this rift come from?  What hardened her heart.  Another question was on her lips when she was pulled out of the dream.

    Sarah rubbed her eyes.  She felt Amee¡¯s hand on her forearm.  After some her other dreams it was almost electric as it brought half remembered dreams hours of pleasure to the front of her mind.    Amee laughed.

    ¡°You could sleep threw an earthquake.¡±

    Sarah blushed.  It had nothing to do with her sleeping habits.  Amee smirked.

    ¡°Dreaming of that hot son of the Russian President?  He can slip into my dreams anytime.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s shade pink was almost red now.  She hadn¡¯t thought to deeply about the fact she was about to spend a week in a Russia staying in the same house as his son.  The boy had been a favorite of teen girls worldwide since his father ran for office.  Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Amee pointed an accusing finger.

    ¡°Liar!¡±

    Sarah¡¯s hormones were all over the place.  She was going through puberty at a rapid rate.  She looked at the finger, tipped with black nail polish and followed it up the arm to the curve of Amee¡¯s neck to her friends already perfect chest, then back up to her neck and the blood she knew flowed through the artery.  Sarah felt something pierce her bottom lip.  She squeaked and held her hand to her mouth.  When she pulled it away she saw blood.  Amee¡¯s expression changed from one of amusement to concern immediately.

    ¡°Sarah, your teeth!¡±

    Sarah¡¯s hand went to her mouth and she felt them.  A pair of fangs just like she¡¯d had in the dream.  She felt a familiar panic rising up in her but thanks to her meds, and the fact she¡¯d been weened off the rest of her meds she pushed it down.  Only a slight vibration could be felt in the room.  She rushed to the bathroom hand over her mouth.  When she looked in the mirror she could see a trickle of blood running down her chin from the left side of her lip.  She¡¯d put the fang through her lip entirely.  She blinked as the injury closed immediately.  She heard rushed slap of bare feet approaching.  She glanced at the bathroom entrance.  Amee rushed in dragging Maria.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Help her!¡±

    Amee pointed at Sarah.  Maria blinked slowly while stroking her crucifix.  She approached Sarah and looked at her mouth.

    ¡°Yes, those are vampire fangs.¡±

    Amee blinked at Maria.

    ¡°And?¡±

    Maria frowned at Amee.

    ¡°And what Amee?  I did not turn her.  That is against the law, she is too young.¡±

    ¡°Fix her she is leaving for Russia in three hours!¡±

    ¡°I cannot.  If she was turned she is dead.¡±

    Amee pointed at both of them and threw her hands up.

    ¡°You both have heartbeats!¡±

    Maria lifted her small pale hand and pointed at the window where sunlight was streaming in.

    ¡°Only in sunlight.  I am sorry Sarah, you were just starting to develop how you wanted.   Who did this to you?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.  Tears were starting to form at the corner of her eyes.

    ¡°No one¡­I just¡­¡±

    Maria stroked her silver crucifix.

    ¡°We should tell Ms. Sheppard.¡±

    Amee grabbed Maria as she turned to leave.  Amee spoke quietly.

    ¡°No, we will do no such thing until we know what is going on!  What if you did it in your sleep?¡±

    Maria relented and stopped.  She was in sunlight and bereft of her vampiric abilities she was no match for the fully charge cyborg.  She looked up at Amee.

    ¡°I do not sleep.  I have not since I can remember.¡±

    Amee released her.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I do not sleep.  It is impossible, no matter how much I try.¡±

    Maria¡¯s eyes drifted to Sarah who was still staring at the fangs in the mirror.

    ¡°It is not important.  I would know if I drank any blood from Sarah, I did not.  Nor did I lose any in the last day.  Therefore it is impossible it could have been me.¡±

    Sarah spoke suddenly.

    ¡°I need to see Isis.¡±

    Maria¡¯s fingers clutched onto her crucifix tightly.

    ¡°You cannot, she is dangerous.  My sister¡¯s journals were quite explicit in the threat she poses.  Might I suggest an alternative theory?¡±

    Both Sarah and Amee looked at Maria.

    ¡°If you had done all the ready you were provided for basic powers class.  You would know that Life mages, and those who use life energy are often capable of molding their form to suit their needs.  Perhaps Sarah has done this unconsciously, for some reason?  Perhaps with all the danger she has been in she wanted to be more durable, stronger, and faster.  Being around the Headmistress, Helen, and myself, may have inspired her to shift herself into a more vampire-like being.¡±

    Amee shook her head.

    ¡°You think if Sarah could shape change like that, even self-consciously, she¡¯d have let herself look like a really tall twelve year old boy?¡±

    Sarah glared at Amee at first, then after a few moments reflection she shrugged and nodded.  Maria¡¯s lips pursed.

    ¡°Well it makes more sense then some vampire sneaking in here overnight and turning her while I was reading on the couch in the shared living area.  Only Isis is older than me, and if Isis had turned her, her eyes would be gold.¡±

    ¡°How would you know that?¡±

    Maria motioned to the common area.

    ¡°My sister kept very detailed journals on those she considered her enemies.  Isis was on the list, along with those vampires she created.  It is a trait of her bloodline.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Isis is not evil.  She protected me, but¡­ but she did something to me, I blacked out and ever since I¡¯ve been having these dreams¡­  memories.¡±

    Maria¡¯s eyebrow quirked and as her hand continued to stroke her crucifix.

    ¡°Memories?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her face.  When she looked back in the mirror her fangs had vanished but she still felt different.  Like a leashed animal only held at bay by the sun.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Amee was starting to look frustrated.

    ¡°Who cares about memories, she has vampire fangs!¡±

    ¡°Amee, please let her continue.  This could be the root of the issue.¡±

    Maria looked to Sarah.

    ¡°Please Sarah, this could help.  Tell us what you see in these, memories.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! Its just like I¡¯m somewhere else.  In bed with Amee¡­doing something between my legs.  You and I sitting on a dock.  The last one had this man in it, there was a volcano.  I was a vampire I guess, I got burned by the sun, he fed me blood.  I was strong¡­  really, really, strong.¡±

    Maria continued to stroke her crucifix, the shiny black nail polish on her pale fingers glinting in the sun.  She nodded.

    ¡°What did this man look like?¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t tall, he wasn¡¯t anything special, he looked like a clean cut Jesus or something.¡±

    Maria¡¯s lips moved as she spoke a name silently then she actually let the name be heard.

    ¡°Sextus.  My biological father.  Could the volcano have been the one at Pompeii?¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°My sister had reference to that event in her journal.  Her and my father fought.  She left Rome shortly after they arrived and didn¡¯t speak to him for centuries.  I wonder if perhaps you read them?  I know you understand Atlantean.¡±

    Sarah shook her head. Maria nodded in response.

    ¡°I see.  The source of these memories could have been Isis implanting them.  Either way, this makes sense.  You are about to make a journey somewhere new.  You are perhaps feeling a bit anxious, or fearful.  You had a dream about being a vampire and made yourself some semblance of one.  So this is not permanent.¡±

    Amee pointed at Sarah.

    ¡°Then fix her, can¡¯t you just do that vampire mojo thing where you stare in her eyes and make her change back?¡±

    Maria shook her head.

    ¡°No, without the medication she was taking when my niece was able to affect her before, she is quite resistant, if not immune.  Sarah you will turn back to normal eventually.¡±

    Sarah blinked at Maria.  Amee was having none of that.

    ¡°Nonsense, what is she supposed to do now? She¡¯s going to Russia!¡±

    Maria looked at the pair of girls and spoke plainly.

    ¡°Do not bite anyone.¡±

    Amee clenched her fists.

    ¡°What the hell kind of advice is that?¡±

    ¡°The same advice I give myself every morning.¡±

    Sarah started nibbling on her freshly healed lip.

    ¡°But it¡¯s a week, won¡¯t I need blood?  You drink at least one bag a day.¡±

    Maria shook her head.

    ¡°I could go months without blood, but it is against school policy.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I almost bit Amee and it was only five minutes.¡±

    Maria nodded.

    ¡°I will return.¡±

    She wandered out of the bathroom leaving the other two girls alone.  Amee blinked a few times and looked at Sarah.

    ¡°You almost bit me?  And you¡¯re having sex dreams about me?¡±

    Sarah blushed again and her jaw clamped itself shut.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just drop that bomb and then leave for Russia!¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t you, it was¡­ older you!¡±

    Sarah was saved from further interrogation by Maria appearing with her old worn pack.  She pulled out three fist sized chunks of red crystal handing them to Sarah.

    ¡°These are blood crystals.  If you hold it in your hand you can transfer the blood to yourself.  Each has enough for one month of blood, if you do not hurt yourself or use any vampiric abilities.  The more you do as a vampire, the more blood you use.  So please, do not throw cars.  Even if you can do so without triggering your monitor.¡±

    Amee blinked.

    ¡°Wait, they cannot tell if you use your superpowers?¡±

    Maria nodded.

    ¡°That is correct, but they are not superpowers.  They are to us as breathing is to a human.¡±

    Amee shook her head.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you use them all the time then?¡±

    Maria quirked her head to the side.

    ¡°It is against the rules.¡±

    Amee facepalmed.  Her conversation with Sarah about the sex dreams apparently put on pause.  She wrapped her arm around Maria¡¯s shoulders and guided her towards the common area.

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me, you could make that bitch Porche lick the¡­¡±

    Sarah lost track of the conversation as the pair walked around the corner of the bathroom.  She put the bloodstones down and pulled the curtains closed over the frosted glass.  She leaned on one of the sinks and looked in the mirror.  She focused and her canines extended into fangs.  If it was so disturbing, she¡¯d even think they looked cute on her.  She felt it now.  That familiar hunger from the dream.  She lifted up one of the stones and took her fill.  The bright red turned to a faint pink.  She felt her body react.  Everything was suddenly more real.  Scents, sights, smells.  She could hear Amee trying to convince Maria to use her abilities to strike back at a bully of the trio.  She could hear Amee¡¯s heartbeat, Kerri¡¯s,  her new roommates.  She felt powerful.  In control.  She felt like every single cell in her body was there waiting for her orders.

    For someone who had spent her entire life feeling out of control it was addictive.  Why would she ever want to give this up?  There was a part of her that was always afraid.  Afraid of what a boy or man might do to her when no one else was around.  It had been made worse by the incident in the green house.  Though with her memories erased she had not realized it.  The block the Headmistress had placed on her evaporated.  She remembered every little detail but in this new form, a huntress of the night.  This new form that would have drained that man dry.  The images she relived did nothing to her besides bring a sense of satisfaction.  Her body had no reaction to the gore.  No, that was a human reaction.  This body, she was in absolute control of, she did not want to feel ill, so she did not.

    Why did Maria not revel in this?  How could she resist using these abilities?  They were there waiting to be used.  Not like Sarah¡¯s normal bodies abilities.  No these she could use at will.  Her mind was clear as well.  Whatever miswiring her human brain had it was meaningless in this vampiric form.  She pushed herself up and grabbed the blood stones.  She licked her fangs after looking at her silhouette in the mirror.  The raging hormones that had beset her since the puberty blockers were removed were a thing of living flesh.  As one of the undead she felt none of it.

    Sarah left the bathroom and put the crystals in her carryon.  She walked into the common area and leaned behind Amee.  Any hesitation she had about pursuing what she¡¯d seen in her dreams was no more as her lips touched Amee¡¯s ear she nibbled, then whispered.

    ¡°Lets go get the bitch.¡±

    Amee shuddered at the nibble it took a her a few seconds to react but she stood up suddenly.  Almost leaping away from Sarah¡¯s nibble.  Maria was nowhere to be seen.  Amee¡¯s right arm crossed her belly and her left hand touched her ear as she looked at Sarah.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Porsche, let¡¯s go make her lick a toilet seat.¡±

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Flight to Moscow

    Sarah was tapping her heels on the floor of the airplane.  Much like most intracontinental flights, this was a normal plane.  Different from the sub-orbital ramjet one would take from North America to Europe.  This one was a more conventional and far posher.  She was in business class.  Her apparent discomfort drew the attention of a flight attendant.  The woman had a kind face.  She wasn¡¯t much older than Sarah, maybe eighteen or nineteen.  She leaned down.  The plane was from a Russian airline, so she addressed Sarah in Russian.

    ¡°Are you alright?  Would you like a beer, or a glass of wine to calm your nerves?¡±

    Sarah quirked her head to the side and her legs stopped moving.  This was the first time in her life someone assumed she was older than she was.  She was tempted.  The sun streaming through the airplane window had robbed her of her new vampiric powers and confidence.  If what Maria had said was true and she had done this to herself, why would she make it so the sun weakened her?  It made little sense.  She realized the attendant was still waiting for her answer.  She closed her eyes and opened them, then looked up to the woman.

    ¡°No, thank you ma¡¯am.  I¡¯m only fourteen.¡±

    The woman laughed softly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you look so, put together.  Do you need anything?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am, I¡¯m just nervous about the trip.¡±

    The attendant looked around the cabin, seeing none of her other VIPs were trying to get her attention.  She leaned on the empty seat across from Sarah¡¯s, folding her hands.

    ¡°Going to see family?¡±

    Sarah shook her head again.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m going to meet the President of Russia. And the women¡¯s Olympic hockey team.

    The attendant¡¯s eyes went wide, but she recovered.

    ¡°You must be very special.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Just a girl who can make plants grow, that¡¯s all.¡±

    The attendant¡¯s face betrayed sudden recognition.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­  Sarah MacCloud.  The Aurelius Academy student that fought Goliath in Munich!¡±

    Sarah¡¯s ears turned a bright red her cheeks followed as she nodded very slightly.  Her actions had drawn far more attention that she¡¯d expected.  Even more embarrassing was the fact she felt like an impostor because the heavy lifting had been done by her silent passenger.

    ¡°My baby sister printed out a picture of you projecting that barrier.  She¡¯s a fan.  Says she wants to be like you when she gets big.  She¡¯s a PL 8 as well.¡±

    Sarah nodded still very embarrassed by the conversation.  She felt unjustified pride welling up in her at the thought of little girls seeing her as an inspiration.  She also felt like she should do something kind for the attendant.

    ¡°If you want, we can take a selfie together and you can send it to her.  I¡¯d even be willing to see if I can meet her¡­ while I¡¯m in Russia.  I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯ll let me¡­ but¡­¡±

    The young flight attendant shook her head.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t, it¡¯s against policy.  I shouldn¡¯t even be bothering you as much as I have.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.  I needed the company.  It is taking my mind of the nerves.¡±

    The attendant looked around and pulled out her cell phone and leaned in beside Sarah and snapped a picture.  Sarah had her hand up in a wave and was smiling.  The attendant quickly sent it with inflight wifi.

    ¡°Thank you, that will make her year.  She is really nervous about going to the academy.  She¡¯s never been away from home.  And now she thinks it¡¯s full of full-grown superheroes like the Siberian Petroleum protectors.¡±

    Sarah shook her head and tapped her wrist.  She swept her finger over her contact info and swept it towards the attendant who quickly reached for her phone and accepted the data.

    ¡°Please tell her to email or text any time.  I will be happy to talk to her about what it¡¯s like.¡±

    The attendant noticed a call button demanding her attention.

    ¡°Excuse me, need to get back to work.  Thank you, and if you need anything please let me know Sarah.  And thanks for being so brave.  Us normal humans depend on people like you.¡±

    Sarah looked back down at the clouds below.  Leaning her head on the cabin of the plane.  Her mind drifted back to the nibble of Amee¡¯s ear.  The mental command that sent Porscha licking a toilet seat in one of the shared bathrooms in the Magic studies building.  The passionate kiss and groping with Amee that followed as they rolled along the bathroom wall.  She¡¯d messed around with Richard but those few minutes with Amee would never leave her.  She shifted uncomfortably at the memory of the passion. Her new vampire teeth sinking to Amee¡¯s neck.  The rush as her blood seeped into her mouth.  Amee¡¯s hand under her uniform¡¯s skirt and down her underwear.  Her nervous fingers finding places on Sarah that made her head swim.  The pair had parted when Amee¡¯s alarm had told her it was time to get to the gateway for her trip.  There was no conversation, no embrace.  Just awkward almost whispered good-byes.  They couldn¡¯t even look directly at each other.  She shook her head and whispered.

    ¡°Stupid.  Stupid.¡±

    Sarah would love to blame the dreams, or her recent physical changes.  In the end it was her fault.  She¡¯d given in to the temptation.  She couldn¡¯t even blame her ADHD.  She was fully medicated today.  Her mind drifted to a song from her home universe.  Gasoline by Halsey.  She wished she could wake up from this dream and go back to Arizona.  Back to the illusion her parents were the best parents in the world.  Back to a world where she was a normal girl who hadn¡¯t really filled in.  Back to a time where she hadn¡¯t killed anyone.  Back to skating on their backyard rink in Minnesota, cold wind in her hair as it flowed behind her.  Back to when the biggest care in her world was her slapshot.  And now, back to a world where her and Amee where just friends.

    Her last stand against Goliath had gone viral.  The video was compelling.  A teenage girl standing between a giant in power armor protecting a bunch of children.  The world was hungry for genuine heroes not tainted by corporate sponsorships, or governments.  Sarah was that hero.  No sponsorship, no conscription pay, just an untrained teenage girl against what the world saw as a manifestation of all their fears of things that go bump in the night.  It had ended with her on the ground on her knees gasping for breath.  MANA couldn¡¯t let the world see that they attempted to kill her, or that she disabled a whole squad of their elite.  MANA were the good guys¡­  Sarah was starting to see the truth.  She also pondered what her fate would have been had Isis not stepped in.

    Her mind drifted to the alabaster goddess with golden eyes.  She know she should be frightened of such a being, but she couldn¡¯t find it in herself to be scared of her.  It would be like being scared to speak to a trusted friend and confidant.

    Sarah was pulled out of her musings when her food arrived.  She had picked the vegetarian meal.  It had been the healthiest option.  Barring her rare off days, she tried to keep her diet as nutritious as possible.  She was an athlete first and foremost and she treated her body like a temple.  She took a few bites.  It was very good but her appetite wasn¡¯t what it would usually be.  The food couldn¡¯t compare to the taste of the blood flowing over her tongue from Amee¡¯s neck.  As delicious as the food was, it may as well have been cardboard.  She spun her folk in her hand as she stared down at it. She heard the flight attendant from earlier speak to her.

    ¡°Sarah, is the food alright?¡±

    Sarah who had been spaced out put a fake smile on her face and nodded.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°You can call me Alina.  Ma¡¯am is my mother.¡±

    Sarah smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Thank you, Alina, everything is fine.¡±

    Alina nodded and wandered off to tend the needs of other passengers.  Sarah pushed herself to eat the food.  It wasn¡¯t making her sick, so she assumed her body needed it.  She finished and pushed the tray away.

    Sarah glanced out the window.  They flying east and Moscow was two hours ahead of Munich so the sun was starting to set.   As dusk gave way to twilight and eventually night she felt the familiar power and confidence that came with her new strange vampiric hybrid form.  The world came into a sharp focus around her as every detail around her became crisp.  She smelled the remnants of her dinner and she wrinkled her nose.  She glanced at her holo-tablet.  They were only an hour from their destination. Sarah shifted in her seat.  She felt right like this.  Like it was the part of her that had been missing.

    Sarah was in the midst of looking around the cabin.  She was pondering what the blood from each of the passengers around her would taste like.  She¡¯d tasted Amee¡¯s desire and passion.  Her attention was drawn when she heard a gunshot.  Her time at the range during her test had taught her the sound well.  She looked around and saw Alina stumbling towards the front of the cabin with her hands up.

    Sarah¡¯s newfound confidence brought on by her current transformation meant that she didn¡¯t even think twice before standing up to block the man¡¯s progress towards the cabin.  There had been no 9/11 on this world so flight security wasn¡¯t what it was on her native Earth.  She did not feel like being involved in a crash into a building.  The man waved his pistol at Sarah.  She knew enough that any hit on the outer shell of the plane would cause a loss of air pressure.  As she was, it would mean nothing to her to be without air, the other passengers and Alina would not be so lucky.  She looked the man in the eyes as Eyre had done to her on a few occasions now.

    ¡°You want to put down your gun gently, get on your knees, slide the weapon to me and surrender.  You recognize me from the news, you do not want to fight a PL 8 super.¡±

    He resisted briefly but he kneeled and was about to put his gun down when a woman¡¯s voice cried out breaking Sarah¡¯s spell.  The woman was speaking in Chechen.  Sarah recognized it and understood it without effort.

    ¡°Illyas what are you doing, stop!¡±

    The woman noticed Sarah and leveled her gun at her.  The man who she¡¯d called Illyas shook off Sarah¡¯s attempt of mental influence.  They both fired at her.  She wasn¡¯t sure how she could even perceive the bullets but she could see the moving in slow motion towards her.  In fact everyone had seemed to pause in time.  Alina had tripped on her heels and was midfall. It reminded her of Matrix time from the old movie she¡¯d watched with her father.   She held up her hand and blue veins marred her pale skin.  Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue.  She felt no pain.  The powers her mortal body struggled to control and channel seemed easy in this new form. The bullets froze in mid air and the pistols shattered into their component parts falling to the ground harmlessly.  Time seemed to resume its natural flow.  She lifted her hand, and the two would-be hijackers were pressed against the ceiling of the cabin.  She spoke in Chechen.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°I tried to do this the easy way.¡±

    She flicked her wrist downwards and the pair slammed into the aisle floor.  She then flicked her wrist towards the back of the plane slamming them into the hardened sound proof divider that would have the economy class passengers behind it.  She lifted her hand one last time slamming them into the cabin¡¯s roof again.  She closed her fist.  Becoming tired of using them as human basketballs she decided to use a tried-and-true tactic of one of her favorite villains.  Both of the hijackers with lifted up by their necks and began struggling to breath as they clutched their throats.  When they lost consciousness she opened her hand and waved it.  The pair fell to the aisle bruised and unconscious, but very much alive.  Soon after a pair of Russian soldiers from economy  class arrived.  Sarah could tell because they were travelling in their uniforms.  The pair had somehow found zip ties and restrained the two terrorists.  The passengers in the first class cabin started cheering and clapping.  Sarah sat back down and decided now was a good time to get busy with something else, so she pulled out one of her hard copy text books and began to do one of the assigned readings.

    Sarah was fairly sure that this had nothing to do with her presence.  Chechnya and Russia had been at odds for three decades here, and were often accused of acts of terrorism by Russia.  Chechnya accused Russia of an illegal annexation of their land.  In many ways, Chechnya was in the position Ukraine was in her world, only the national community here left the country and its people to their own devices.  Chechnya was a hot bed for super terrorist activity and all things considered she was lucky it wasn¡¯t one of them on the plane.

    Sarah¡¯s actions had caused a bit of a shock to the crew and other passengers.  Alina seemed more hesitant to approach her.  Seeing a video was far different then watching a fourteen year old girl who had seemed lost and alone suddenly stand up and suppress two active armed attackers with a few waves of her hand.  Sarah hadn¡¯t really thought ahead, she hadn¡¯t really thought at all.  For all the power this new form gave her she still suffered from the underdeveloped brain of a teenage girl that sometimes didn¡¯t consider the end consequences of her actions.

    If she were her old self, before this change to vampirism, or it was daylight around her she would normally be panicking right now.  Her nails would be chewed to the point of bleeding.  She¡¯d very publicly flaunted her power use which was very much against the law for a student under most normal circumstances.  In this case there could be a defense raised that she had no choice, that it was this or she would die.  Self-defense.  There was a certain arrogance about this new form.  It was like Lucius had told her: ¡®You shouldn¡¯t be afraid of them; They should be afraid of you.¡¯  All that power locked up behind her fear before was now at her beck and call.  She was no PL 8.  She was a living nuclear weapon, no, she was a living anti-matter weapon, and she could feel that power at her fingertips.  She could raise the fucking dead.  What could MANA do to stop her?  What hubris would make them think they could tell her, a goddess, when and how she should use her powers?

    ******

    Eyre, Carly and Helen were gathered in Eyre¡¯s office.  Their topic of discussion was a broken record lately.  Sarah had been involved in another incident.   Eyre was staring at her holographic screen.

    ¡°How the hell did it get out so fast?  And how did MANA not detect her power use?¡±

    Helen motioned towards the holo-screen.

    ¡°Apple Blossom.¡±

    Eyre raised one of her red eyebrows at her sister.

    ¡°Am I supposed to know who this is?¡±

    ¡°Social Media influencer. She was on the plane. Posted the video right afterwards.  She put it on blast to her thirty million followers.  Went so far and wide so fast, MANA couldn¡¯t intercept or stop it.  Apparently, HQ is in a panic.  But that isn¡¯t what should concern you sis.  I analyzed the video.  That wasn¡¯t her alter ego, that was Sarah.  In full control of her abilities.  I suspect by the way she stood up she knows exactly what she can do now.  Fourteen years old or not, she is a PL 20, and she knows it.  She knows you¡¯ve been concealing the truth from her.¡±

    Eyre glared at Helen and Carly.

    ¡°I told you that telling her the truth was a mistake.  She was under control.¡±

    Carly looked at Helen.  Helen shook her head.  Carly frowned.

    ¡°Neither of us told her anything yet, Eyre.  She must have found out on her own.¡±

    Eyre slammed the desk with her fist.

    ¡°That bitch Isis.  She must have done it when Sarah went to see her.  Get Maria in here right away.  She might know what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Carly glanced at Helen who threw up her hands and stormed out.  Carly slid down into one of the office chairs and put her face in her palms.  She had warned Eyre about this.  A several minutes of Eyre reviewing various news sources later Maria and Helen arrived.  Eyre looked up at Maria.

    ¡°Maria, what is going on with Sarah?  How is she evading MANA¡¯s power detectors?¡±

    Maria¡¯s hand went to her crucifix and she started to stroke it.  She took several moments to break the silence that fell over the office.

    ¡°I cannot say.  What she told to me was shared in confidence.  I will not break Sarah¡¯s trust, niece.¡±

    Eyre¡¯s fingers slowly curled up.  She had not expected resistance from her Aunt.  Maria so far had been rule following, respectful and never defiant to her authority.  Carly had wrapped her arm around Maria¡¯s shoulder to escort her out of the office but Eyre held up her hand.

    ¡°Stop Carly.¡±

    Carly shook her head.

    ¡°You heard her, she won¡¯t tell you want you¡¯re asking.¡±

    Eyre took a deep breath before speaking again.

    ¡°Maria, she is in trouble and anything you can share will be helpful.¡±

    Maria stroked her crucifix.  Her mind reviewing all the permutations and nuances of her relationship with her room mates.  She had not promised to say nothing of Sarah¡¯s transformation. She had promised to keep the tryst the pair shared in the bathroom quiet.  Her black-lipstick covered lips pursed slightly and she spoke evenly.

    ¡°Sarah has turned herself into a semblance of a vampire.  I would suspect that since they cannot track our power use, so long as she is not in sunlight they can not track hers.  I am concerned for her.  The change in her mannerism and behavior when she is out of sunlight is profound.  I suspect at night, if MANA tries to take her in, she will resist, and as a vampire, there will be casualties.  You know as well as I do, how little damage mortal weapons can do to us, even ones designed to combat supers.  If she has the power to raise the dead, then she has the power to snuff life out with a thought.  Her new form has created an arrogance in her, a disregard for authority, a disregard for the law.¡±

    Eyre closed her eyes leaned back.  This new information made her scared for Sarah in a way she didn¡¯t think possible.  Carly didn¡¯t seem to understand.  Helen was already looking at the arrival time for the flight.  Eyre looked at Helen and spoke quietly.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°MANA is going to want to make a big show of arresting her so other students don¡¯t get ideas.  I¡¯m finding out how long we have to call them off before there is a blood bath.¡±

    Eyre nodded.  Carly looked between them.

    ¡°How did she make herself a vampire?¡±

    Maria was the one that answered.

    ¡°Ms. Sheppard, I suspect much like my sister said of herself in her journals: Sarah can be whatever she wants to be.¡±

    Carly looked between the three.

    ¡°What is that supposed to mean?¡±

    Eyre frowned and spoke in a very calm voice.

    ¡°It means if we don¡¯t stop MANA from trying to bring her in, the world is about to see the first recorded human PL 21 in history.  We should be glad she likely hasn¡¯t had her fill of blood.  Because if she runs out there is a good chance that they can subdue her.¡±

    Maria shook her head.

    ¡°She has three blood stones and she drained at least one of them already.  In addition, she drank from Amee and the nanites did not reject her as I expected.  I believe it is worse than you realize, niece.¡±

    Eyre¡¯s eyes went wide as Maria finished speaking.

    ******

    Sarah had expected MANA agents when she disembarked.  She was instead greeted by a swarm of reporters.  She silently cursed the existence of the internet and inflight wifi.  Any event of note would quickly find it onto the internet so the poster could get their ten minutes of fame.  It was worse here, supers who used their powers publicly were rarely anonymous.  If Superman existed here, there would be no Clark Kent.  His life would be Superman twenty-four seven.  He would be tabloid fodder.  His romantic life would be open for all to see.  He would be a very public figure.  She looked past the gaggle of reporters and spotted several MANA agents.  Two of them were supers, they were wearing the special black bodysuits issued to super powered MANA agents.  The same kind worn by Lea, Helen and Eyre.

    The group of agents started to push their way through the crowd of reporters.  The lead one paused and held up her arm.  She motioned them backwards and they retreated.  Sarah quirked her head to the side.  Her newfound arrogance assumed they saw the futility of attempting to arrest her.  Smart choice she thought to herself.  Soon three men and a woman in black suits started to push past the reporters, then firmly started to push them backwards.  Another woman appeared out of the crowd.  She was wearing a power suit.  She was pale, had dark hair, and grey eyes.  She exuded an aura of authority.  Sarah could smell death on her.  She smelled different then Maria.  As if something were off about her.   The woman spoke.

    ¡°Please, a statement will be released soon, and should Ms. MacCloud wish to speak to you she will at that time.  For now, please let her recover from her ordeal.  Power use is extremely exhausting, especially for inexperienced students.¡±

    One of the reporters held out a microphone.

    ¡°She is a student and used her powers against n-mags, will MANA be pressing charges for a violation of Earth Gov laws?¡±

    ¡°MANA has declined to take her into custody at this time.  The individuals in question were powered and in this case Class Sigma protocol applied.  As she was the only superpowered individual on the plane with combat training her response was justified.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t her limiter stop her?  Are they no longer effective?  This is the second time she¡¯s used her powers while off school grounds.¡±

    The woman frowned.

    ¡°As you well know limiters limit powers, they do not preclude their use.¡±

    Another reporter spoke.

    ¡°A lot of posts online are saying she used too much force.  Why will there be no repercussions?¡±

    The woman was about to speak.  Sarah interrupted her.  She was getting tired of the food questioning her actions.  How short the time was between her change and her seeing humans as bags of blood to be drained¡­

    ¡°I asked them to surrender, they refused and discharged their weapons on a plane full of people.  They could have killed everyone if one of those bullets had hit the fuselage.  They¡¯re still alive, a courtesy they weren¡¯t willing to give rest of us. They were super terrorists, why is their safety more important to you then innocent civilians?  Are you a supporter of the Chechen liberation army?  Does your news organization support terrorism? Flaunting of Earth Gov laws?  Are you enemies of Russia?¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t sure where that all came from, but she liked it.  With a few simple words she¡¯d turned the crowd against the reporter.   She sure didn¡¯t feel like a teenage girl tonight.  She felt like a Queen... no, an Empress.  The woman who¡¯d been trying to speak for Sarah looked at the girl up and down.  Sarah spoke again.

    ¡°My statement is:  I acted in accordance with the laws and rules laid out for me as a duel citizen of Scotland, the United States, and a student of Aurelius Academy.  I saved two hundred lives and the only thing I would change is I would not ask for their surrender and would have just disarmed them immediately.  Giving them a chance to discharge their weapons was careless and shows me why still need to be in school.  To answer another question that I¡¯m sure will be asked, yes, I am considering Russia as my country of residence when I graduate from the Academy.  Anything more you will need to speak to the Headmistress, or MANA¡¯s press department.  Thank you for your interest and concern but I am expected at the President¡¯s residence, and I am already late.¡±

    Sarah looked to the woman who nodded to her.  Several reporters tried to ask her questions.  Ones that got to pushy found themselves under arrest and bound in zip ties courtesy of the Russian President¡¯s security detail.  Sarah and the woman were led to an unmarked SUV.  It had the same sheen as the armored vehicles used by MANA VIPs. After the SUV started moving the woman leaned forward and closed the privacy barrier.  She looked over at Sarah.

    ¡°I thought you were human.¡±

    Sarah glanced over at her.

    ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°You smell like a vampire to me.¡±

    ¡°My roommate is a vampire.  Perhaps you smell her.¡±

    The woman¡¯s lips dripped into a slight frown.

    ¡°That must be it.  You seem rather well spoken for a teenage girl.¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I started thinking very hard about how to deal with the press after the video of me in Munich went viral.¡±

    ¡°Your Russian is also very good.  I am Abigail Muskovich, I go by Abby, I am the press secretary and social media assistant for the vampire Lord of Moscow.  The Imperial Council requested we assist with your security while you¡¯re here.  The Lord sent me to assist you in dealing with the press.  The men in the front seat are both vampires as am I.  You are safe with us.  The president has agreed to our assistance.¡±

    Abby reached into a refrigerator and pulled out a blood bag and began to drink it.  She glanced at Sarah.  Sarah licked her lips reflexively.  Somehow, she managed to not reach for a bag herself.  After using the second bloodstone she had come to realize that it was almost as if her body would never be satisfied with the amount of blood she could acquire.  She also realized revealing that secret to anyone would be detrimental to her future, so she looked away from the woman and out to the passing buildings of Moscow.  Abby closed the refrigerator door.  Sarah waited until Abby was finished her blood before looking back at her.

    ¡°How did the Lord convince MANA to back off?¡±

    Abby smiled.

    ¡°My Lord is quite powerful and influential, but he has no influence over MANA, that was someone else, someone with a lot more pull.  Those agents were there to make a very public example of you, they were far more heavily armed then I would expect for some grade 9 academy student.  You likely made some enemies in MANA and Earth Gov today.  People in power do not like to look like fools.  All their talk of redoubling enforcement on supers using their power out of turn, then you go viral using yours and apparently they cannot touch you.¡±

    Sarah smiled, not her usual happy go lucky smile, this one had a vicious edge to it.

    ¡°They would have failed.  It would have been very public.  It¡¯s too bad someone intervened.   It was a lesson I was eager to teach MANA.¡±

    Abby¡¯s face betrayed her shock at Sarah¡¯s words.

    ¡°Our intelligence on you is all wrong.  You aren¡¯t some frightened teenager.¡±

    Sarah smiled a knowing smile and nodded.

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Ghost Girl

    Sarah had arrived at the president¡¯s residence with little pomp or circumstance.  The president was dealing with the aftermath of the hijacking attempt.  His wife and son were attending a benefit that Sarah was supposed to attend.  Between the delay caused by the hijacking and the press she had missed her window to join them.  If it was all the same to her, she quite pleased to have missed it.  Even with her new attitude the thought to of having to be social with people she did not know for three hours rubbed her the wrong way.  It was ten pm Moscow time and she was leaning on the balcony of the room she was given.  She was wearing a heavy hoody and looking out over the city.  She jumped when a teenage girl shimmered into existence beside her and leaned on the balcony.

    The girl was almost a foot shorter than Sarah.  She was pale.  She had long flowing red hair that was a mass of wavy curls. She had vivid green eyes that reminded her of Eyre.  She realized this was Eyre¡¯s mother.  If she hadn¡¯t been dealing with Lucius for two months she likely would have been more disturbed even in her vampiric form.  Enid spoke.

    ¡°Kid you are one big mess after another.¡±

    Sarah pushed off the railing and crossed her arms.  Enid turned around leaning her elbows on the railing.  She shook her head.

    ¡°Teenagers.  My daughters were the worst even without social media.  All those hormones.  Though I suppose you¡¯re hiding from those aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Sarah frowned.

    ¡°What do you want?  Are you like Lucius?¡±

    Enid laughed.

    ¡°No one is like Lucius.  Look kid, you¡¯ve got a problem.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t! Go away.¡±

    Enid sighed.

    ¡°See what I mean about teenagers?  Doesn¡¯t matter what century you¡¯re in they always think they know everything and that adults are idiots.¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    ¡°Sorry kid doesn¡¯t work that way.  You¡¯re in my body.¡±

    Sarah blinked and stepped back her overconfidence melting.  What she knew of Enid wasn¡¯t extensive, but she did know she was extremely old, and extremely powerful.

    ¡°Yea, you can¡¯t really run away from me.  We¡¯re both in the body now.  You¡­ you were never supposed to exist.  But here we are.  This body was my survival plan.  Well, your family was.  I knew it would take me a long while to reform, so I built a family and linked my essence to them.  Figured one day a few generations later I¡¯d be born into one of their daughters.  Then your father went and fucked everything up.  Fell in love, wife dies, he leaves this Earth to find another.  Can¡¯t stay here and have kids with someone from this world, no.  You were supposed to be my ticket to a body.  But with your Earth being so low magic once I was bound to the body I was too weak to take it over.  Next thing you know your soul shows up¡­  Fucking asshole all he had to do was stay here.¡±

    Sarah stumbled backwards against the glass sliding door.

    ¡°Get out!¡±

    ¡°I would love to kid, but I can¡¯t.  And after Isis meddled with us, I can¡¯t even stop it.  You¡¯re going to die and it¡¯s going to be my body.  Not exactly what I want.  I mean a thousand years ago I wouldn¡¯t care if your soul continued to exist or not.  I need a body; I take a body.  Now, I just don¡¯t want to hurt you, but I am powerless to stop it.¡±

    Sarah felt tears on her cheeks but realized when she touched them, they were blood.

    ¡°Yes, kid, vampires cry blood at night.  And during the day, if they don¡¯t have an amulet.¡±

    ¡°Why are you even telling me all this then, if there is no chance of saving me?¡±

    ¡°Because there is no chance currently.  There could be one out there that we don¡¯t know about.  But you took a vampire form and started using your full power.  You¡¯re accelerating the process.¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be true.¡±

    ¡°Two things about me, one, I never lie to my friends and family, two, I never kill kids.  So, believe me or don¡¯t.  You keep this up, you¡¯re fucked.  And besides, you¡¯re kind of a bitch in this form aren¡¯t you?  Seducing Amee?  Thinking humans are insects?  Trust me I know how easy it is to fall off that cliff.  You¡¯re lucky someone is pulling strings.  While you¡¯re right they can¡¯t really kill you, they can stop you and trap you somewhere.  Imagine that eternity in a little black box somewhere¡­  Not something you want.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me to just give up the thing that makes me feel like I¡¯m in control for the first time in my entire life?¡±

    ¡°Kid, you¡¯re experiencing the worst parts of me right now.  My arrogance, my stubborn pride, my killer instinct.  Sure, you feel strong, and in control.  But what you have right now, it is not strength.  You¡¯re using this to avoid truly feeling anything.  That is the tricky part about being a vampire.  You can just turn your emotions off.  Turn off all those pesky feelings you don¡¯t want.  Become the ultimate hunter.  Thing is, those feelings, that lack of control, that is what makes you human.  Took me a long time to recover from it.  The power you feel, it¡¯s as addictive as the rush you get when you drink blood, but it is all an addiction.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand!  My parents, they would have never been able to do what they did to me if I was like this.  I would have stood up for myself.  I would have stood up to the bullies.  I would have saved Samantha.¡±

    Enid shook her head.

    ¡°Are you shitting me?  You think I don¡¯t understand?  Wah, my parents slowed my development down.  Tried to keep me safe.  Tried to keep me at home.  Get over yourself kid.  My mother tried to drown me when I was a baby, then she tried to slit my throat.  My father...  the things he did to me¡­  just be glad I¡¯m focusing on keeping those memories from you. You¡¯d never let a man touch you again. Fucking teenagers.  Their lives are always the worst.  What you¡¯re feeling right now, that¡¯s me, taking over your mind.  You¡¯re losing the fight and the longer you stay a vampire the faster it will happen.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s voice was almost a whimper.  All the confidence she¡¯d felt draining from her.

    ¡°But I¡¯m so strong now.¡±

    Enid met Sarah¡¯s silver eyes.

    ¡°No Sarah, you¡¯re not.   Strength isn¡¯t being a psycho-bitch.  It¡¯s your friends and family.  All your power is meaningless if you¡¯re alone.  And even if I wasn¡¯t here, if you kept acting the way you have been, you would be alone.  Alone in the world.  Then who will call off the MANA agents before you shred them with your telekinesis and plants?  Obliterate them with pure entropy?   You think I succeeded in saving all of this alone?¡±

    Enid reached out her hands as if to encompass the whole world.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.  I had my sister, my daughters, Isis, my seers, my adoptive parents.  I am not an army of one.  I used to think I had to be to be strong.  I used to think if I ever let myself love someone again, I would be betrayed.  If I hadn¡¯t learned the lessons I did, I would have never felt true happiness.  You are using my worst qualities to feel in control.  The problem is: That means you¡¯re giving up to me.  So, snap out of it and turn back.¡±

    ¡°Why do you care?  If I just give up the body¡­  I¡­ I am just a waste.¡±

    ¡°Are you even listening to me kid?   I don¡¯t want to destroy you.  You have as much right to exist as I do.  Stop trying to take the easy way out.  You¡¯re a fighter, you always have been.¡±

    Sarah slid down the wall hugging herself.  Enid couched down.

    ¡°Do not give up Sarah.  I cannot do this for you.  I tried but you¡¯re so addicted to this feeling of control and strength you refused to let go.  The first step is to let yourself feel something, anything.¡±

    Sarah whimpered as the emotions she¡¯d been holding at bay by stopping her brain from releasing the chemicals started to flood into her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how.¡±

    ¡°Just decide you don¡¯t want to be a vampire anymore.  Let go of the control you think you have.  Its simple kid.¡±

    Sarah closed her eyes and started to breathe again on her own, her heart started pounding in her chest.

    ¡°Good, good.¡±

    Sarah began to sob as she felt everything again, she looked up at Enid.  Her whole body was shaking as she gasped for breath.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    ¡°I know kid.  I know.  We¡¯ll figure it out.  You keep that vampire trick in your back pocket you¡¯ll need it to rescue my family.¡±

    Sarah was still gulping air in as she tried to stop her sobs her, she held her knees to her chest.

    ¡°How can I even look at Amee again?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, that was my wife you were sucking face and blood with.¡±

    Sarah looked up at Enid with her mascara-stained face.

    ¡°Was it me or you?¡±

    Enid shrugged.

    ¡°At this point it¡¯s hard to tell where you end, and I begin.  Separating ourselves¡­  I don¡¯t know.  Damn it Isis, why couldn¡¯t you leave well enough alone?¡±

    ¡°What did she do to me?  Us?¡±

    ¡°She pulled me out so she could talk to me.  She could not really explain to you, but she is very sorry for causing your¡­ death to be hastened.  She was trying to help me; She wanted her friend back.  She also wants her daughter.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t care about me at all, just you?¡±

    Enid sighed and nodded.

    ¡°Isis isn¡¯t like us.  She¡¯s so old¡­  look, you know what it felt like to turn off your humanity, but you remembered what it was like to feel something, anything.  This Isis, she doesn¡¯t remember feeling anything.   Vampires that old, they just simply forget they can just turn those feelings on again.  So, they will do anything they can to get a spark of feeling.  It an insanity of a sort.  You are a means to an end to her.  To get her friend back.  To get her doppelganger¡¯s daughter in hopes she can wake some part of her humanity up again.  While it is not because she cares, she will do everything in her power to keep you, and myself safe.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Sarah rocked.

    ¡°I have no one.¡±

    ¡°You have your grandparents.  You have Amee, Maria, Kelly, Misha, Sasha, Carly.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°They don¡¯t understand.  I thought Isis did.¡±

    Enid frowned.

    ¡°Kid, you¡¯re a fighter, if they don¡¯t understand, you make them understand.¡±

    ¡°Am I a fighter, or is that you too?¡±

    ¡°Sarah, you earned all those trophies.  You did.  You got those A¡¯s in school.  You overcame your ADHD to get those marks.  The only things I¡¯m responsible for are the shield when you were six, the greenhouse when you were twelve and the last bit of that fight with Goliath.  Don¡¯t start second guessing yourself now.¡±

    ¡°What I feel for Lucius, that¡¯s you too, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Enid sighed and nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.  I should have let myself go.  Let my family go.¡±

    Sarah sniffled and wiped away her tears.  She shook her head.

    ¡°No, you wanted to live, you wanted to protect your children.  You¡¯re ten times the mother mine is.¡±

    Enid lowered herself to her knees and her ghostly hands pressed against Sarah cheeks forcing their eyes to meet.

    ¡°Your mother loved you so much she was willing to let you hate her to save you from what she saw as a terrible life.  Trapped in a different world, away from everything you knew.  She tried to save you from yourself, she thought she could stop you from hurting anyone else.  Your father risked life imprisonment on a supermax hell world to save you from remembering you killed a man.  Your parents love you.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re the only one who cares enough to be absolutely honest with me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to die and it¡¯s my fault, you should be furious at me.¡±

    Sarah shook her head again.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t want to kill me, you¡¯re not my enemy and I¡¯m not worth saving.¡±

    Enid narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°I think you might be clinically insane.  If someone is going to kill you, you do not make friends with them, you don¡¯t feel sorry for them.  You figure out how to beat them, Sarah!  Get up.  Dust yourself off and stop feeling sorry for yourself.  You¡¯re better than this.  Fight, win.¡±

    ¡°I know what you¡¯ve done.  You sacrificed yourself twice to save the world.  What have I done?  The world needs you.¡±

    Enid sighed then swept her hand towards Sarah.  Sarah felt a force hit her cheek hard enough to make a crack.  Sarah¡¯s hand went to the reddening location of the assault.

    ¡°Ouch!  What was that for?¡±

    Enid smiled.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, get angry kid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s assault!¡±

    Sarah was standing now and was starting to get angry just like Enid was demanding.  Another force connected with her stomach and Sarah doubled over in pain.  The normally fairly well-spoken teenager glared at Enid while holding her stomach.

    ¡°Bitch!¡±

    ¡°Bet you want to hurt me now, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Sarah took a swing at Enid and stumbled through her and ran into the railing of the balcony.

    ¡°Only way you¡¯re going to be able to do that is to fight me in your mind.  Make me go away.¡±

    Another force hit Sarah in the kidneys.  She fell to her knees leaning on the balcony.  Enid mocked her.

    ¡°Maybe you are right, if you can¡¯t even defend yourself, maybe you don¡¯t deserve this body.¡±

    Sarah cried out holding her back.  She spun around and took another swing but as the last attempt her fist passed right through Enid.  Sarah collapsed on her knees tears streaming down her cheeks.  The shorter girl laughed.

    ¡°So pathetic.  Aww poor little middle-classed white girl takes a few hits, and she starts bawling.  I¡¯ll give you something to cry about.¡±

    Another unseen force collided with Sarah¡¯s chin sending her sprawling backwards through the open sliding door and into the bedroom.  She cried out in pain. She spoke through her sobs.

    ¡°I thought you cared about me.¡±

    ¡°Kid, I¡¯m not your mother, I¡¯m not your sister, I¡¯m not your friend, I¡¯m your enemy!  I will kill you one day.  Now fight me!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡±

    Enid¡¯s foot struck Sarah flat in the chest.  The newly developed tissue was extremely sensitive at the best of times.  Sarah experienced a whole new level of pain.  She clutched her chest and tried desperately not to lose her supper.

    ¡°Use your mind!  Come on, come at me or are you too frightened?  Do you want to die a scared little girl?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her hand along her chin and saw blood on her hand.  Something snapped in her and she growled at Enid.  She was so angry she just wanted to hurt the red head in front of her.

    ¡°Fuck off!  Go back wherever you came from!  I hate you!¡±

    Each statement was backed up by a strong brutal attack.   She swung her fist at Enid¡¯s face, then followed up with an elbow strike and a spinning back-kick.  Enid¡¯s ghostly form stumbled backwards under the assault.  Sarah wasn¡¯t making any physical contact, but something was happening.  Sarah didn¡¯t stop.  Eventually an exhausted Sarah was on her knees looking at the bruised and badly beaten Enid.  She smirked at Sarah.

    ¡°Good job kid.¡±

    Enid¡¯s ghost evaporated.  Sarah leaned against the wall panting and exhausted for several minutes.  Finally, once she¡¯d caught her breath, she pulled herself up and leaned on the wall as she made her way to the ensuite bathroom. She leaned heavily on the sink and was happy to see that even the slap mark was fading.  Her day was bad enough already she didn¡¯t want to have to explain away a random assault inside the president¡¯s residence.   She saw Enid¡¯s image sitting on the vanity but only in the mirror.  Her silver eyes darted towards her.  She was half expecting another beat down.  Enid held up her hands in a show of surrender.

    ¡°Trust me kid, no more abuse from me.  I feel it all too.¡±

    Sarah frowned and winced.  The blow to her jaw had made her bite the inside of her cheek.  She spit out blood.

    ¡°I know what you were trying to do.  You do care.¡±

    Enid shrugged.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t listen to reason.  You and I are a lot alike.  Even without me seeping into your brain.  Neither of us like to lose or be called weak.¡±

    Sarah rinsed with some cold water and spit out.  It was still pink.  She rubbed the bottom of her jaw.  She looked at Enid again in the mirror.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    Enid nodded.

    ¡°Good.  Now we¡¯ll just have to figure out how to make it happen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not hurt.  That¡¯s not fair.¡±

    Enid shrugged and kicked her legs.

    ¡°Not a physical being.  Can¡¯t really hurt me.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have to punch you?¡±

    Enid nodded in the affirmative.

    ¡°But hey if it helps you visualize a mental attack, all power to you, kid.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a kid!¡±

    Enid scoffed.

    ¡°My daughter is twelve hundred years old by her count and she¡¯s still a kid to me.  Why do you think a fourteen-year-old will be any different?¡±

    Sarah frowned at Enid¡¯s reflection.

    ¡°I beat you, why are you still here?¡±

    Enid laughed.

    ¡°That was just so you¡¯d fight for yourself.  I¡¯m here to stay until we can get ourselves separated.¡±

    Sarah wrinkled her nose.

    ¡°Like in the bathroom too?¡±

    ¡°Wow.  You¡¯re about to be wiped out by an ancient entity and you¡¯re concerned that someone might see you pee?  I liked you better as a vampire.¡±

    ¡°You said it would kill me faster.¡±

    ¡°I did.  And I did not lie.  I did not explain entirely either.  You were losing your sense of identity.  You were willingly letting my¡­ parts of me take over.  There is nothing inherently dangerous about taking another shape.  It was the turning off the parts you that you didn¡¯t like.  You might not like them, but they are part of what makes you, you.  It is all metaphysical and hard to explain.  Just suffice it to say, use the vampire thing judiciously.  And when you do, try not to lose yourself.¡±

    ¡°I could just make myself older?  Give myself bigger¡­¡±

    ¡°Yea.  But do you really want too?  You have a lot of maturing to do kid.  Why rush it?  Being an adult sucks.¡±

    ¡°Being a teenage girl who is a really late bloomer sucks too.¡±

    Enid wrapped her hands around the vanity or appeared too.

    ¡°Grass is always greener kid¡­grass is always greener.  Trust me, everybody thinks their life sucks.  It¡¯s the human condition.  Hell, it¡¯s the sentient condition.  I can say that with authority.  I¡¯ve met three alien races.¡±

    Sarah did a double take at Enid when she mentioned aliens.  Enid smirked.

    ¡°What, vampires can¡¯t fly spaceships?¡±

    ¡°How¡­  you can¡¯t go the speed of light.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I can, or theoretically, we can just teleport to another world.  Though mostly it¡¯s just us choosing to manifest somewhere else.  You¡¯re still locked into this, I¡¯m a mortal, this is my body this is where I am.  But we¡¯re technically everywhere.  If we¡¯re willing to access our full power, which comes with its own challenges.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Kid.  This body, it¡¯s the physical manifestation of an Archangel.  Haven¡¯t you figured that out yet?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re Seraph.  She created all of this¡­We created all of this.  I doubt she could¡­ we could pull off anything god-like at this point.  Kind of blew our load when we recreated everything as a multiverse instead of a single rigid timeline.  We¡¯re in what you¡¯d call a refractory period and who knows how long that will last.¡±

    Sarah blushed profusely as she realized what the metaphor Enid used meant.  Enid rolled her eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re so easy to embarrass.¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times and as she was won¡¯t to do with her ADHD randomly changed the subject as her brain made a new connection.

    ¡°Were you really in high school two times?  Weren¡¯t you being a bit creepy?¡±

    Enid laughed softly.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t there to pick up guys or girls.  Fucking Twilight. I was there to learn the first time.  I was planning on straight to university by Eyre being the brat¡­ okay I needed the education.  There wasn¡¯t exactly what you¡¯d call a high school in Rome.  And the second time I was trying to recruit Maria for a battle.¡±

    ¡°How did that go?¡±

    ¡°Good, once she figured out, I wasn¡¯t trying to seduce her.  This Maria seems a bit behind.  Lacks emotions.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see what Isis showed us?¡±

    ¡°No, I was still recovering from our conversation.  Before she intervened these¡­ overlaps were exhausting.  Used up my spiritual energy or something.  What did she show you?¡±

    ¡°Maria¡¯s soul was pushed out of her body in the battle with that black tornado of purple lightning.¡±

    ¡°Chronos.  That makes sense.  The Pugmentia in the original timeline must have pre-programmed some emotions or something.  Wasn¡¯t quite our normal mental power of persuasion.  Too bad Maria got the ghosts to kill him I would have loved to drain him dry and find out what made that power tick.¡±

    ¡°Can we fix her?¡±

    ¡°Fucked if I know.  Immortal souls and such are Maria¡¯s thing.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re an Archangel¡­a PL 21.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean I know everything kid.  Touching Seraph¡¯s intellect, it¡¯s like touching an alien super intelligence.  It shatters mortal minds.  She can see every single particle of every single universe all at once.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re not mortal.¡±

    ¡°Compared to her, everyone is mortal.  Especially once the multiverse happened.  She does know everything that has happened, and will happen in every single one of the universes she is monitoring.  The others she doesn¡¯t care about.  We left them to the demons and Chronos.  Their own little infinite playground where they can keep destroying reality over and over again forever.  I was born a mortal, I grew up a mortal, even as a vampire I didn¡¯t have a photographic memory.  I couldn¡¯t tell you every single person I drank or what Vlad the Impaler¡¯s favorite drink was.  I mean it was probably wine.  What the fuck else did they have to drink?  Anyway, she¡¯s above God now.  If I tried, or you tried to access that intellect we¡¯d be overwhelmed and obliterated.  Been there, done that.  Didn¡¯t even get a t-shirt.  Just a used body with a teenage girl in it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean she¡¯s ¡®Above God¡¯ now.  No one is above God.¡±

    ¡°Hate to break it to you, but she is now.  They were equals but he relinquished control when he told her to create the perfect ordered universe.  Honestly it was the only way to deal with Chronos.  He was also equal to God but when I destroyed him¡­when we, Eyre, Maria, Lilith and I, Seraph gained his power too.  Making her greater then both God and Chronos.

    So, in each of these infinite universes, there is a version of God, a version of each archangel, each angel, Lucifer, Cronos. There is only one Seraph she watches over everything, though I¡¯d say she¡¯s more sleeping then watching.  Refractory period after all. When one of these entities tries to interfere or someone tries to time travel they get shunted to one of the wild universes.  I called them that.  Make sure you quote me when you write your doctorate on this.  Anyway¡­

    Basically, there is only one Seraph.  She is recovering after that incident in 1942 and that means you and I are free of her influence for the foreseeable future.¡±

    Sarah blinked at Enid¡¯s really complicated lesson, her last IQ test put her at one hundred and eighty so she as far from stupid, but this was so outside her area of knowledge she was a bit lost.

    ¡°So she made an infinite group of universes just to let time travelers, demons, and Chronos¡­ whomever that is, destroy at will?  All those lives just left to die?¡±

    Enid rolled her eyes.

    ¡°She created infinite bundles of infinite universes.  She created far more lives than she left to fend for themselves.  I created for more lives than were left to fend for themselves.  I realized a long time ago, you can¡¯t save everyone, but if I could save some permanently.  I made the choice to do this.  Otherwise, it was reality ends one time after another, only to be rebuilt.  Lilith tried six times before she got one where we beat Chronos, and it still broke after that.  This was the best and only way.  You¡¯re welcome by the way, the only thing that is going to end this creation is the heat death of this universe.¡±

    ¡°You remember but you said you don¡¯t know everything.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I made the decision just before I accessed¡­our full power and knowledge.  I used that brief instant I had before touching Seraph¡¯s intellect¡­our true intellect to reorder everything and rewrite the physical laws of the universe.  Instead of the single timeline theory, I went with the infinite universe¡¯s theory.  Only I tweaked it.  Everything that could have happened, has happened, anything that will happen, will happen.  So, if someone asked if you had breakfast this morning, the real answer is both yes and no.  You¡¯re smarter than I ever was, so this should be simple for you to understand.¡±

    There was a knock at the door to the room.  Enid shrugged.

    ¡°Physical world calls.  That¡¯s your thing.  And remember, be yourself, like yourself and it¡¯ll slow this thing down.¡±

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Dog with a bone.

    Sarah straightened her hair and pushed herself off the vanity.  Content there was no signs of the fight she had with Enid or apparently her own powers she started towards the door.  Her movements were stiff.  Her chest was still very sore.  Even her shirt brushing against it made her wince.  She opened the door and was greeted by one of the president¡¯s security detail and a short brunette.  The woman was rather plain looking.  She was wearing an inexpensive suit jacket and skirt, both black.  Like every portrayal of an FBI agent Sarah had seen in movies.  She flashed a MANA badge.

    ¡°Ms. MacCloud we need to discuss the incident on the plane for our MANA after action report.¡±

    Sarah stepped back to let her in the room.  She was followed by Abby who had been hiding beside the door.  The agent glanced at Abby who smiled at her.  Sarah sensed some barely hidden antagonism between the two.  Sarah sat down on the bed doing her best to hide the pain which wasn¡¯t enough to conceal it from the MANA agent.  She raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I¡¯m Agent Talil.  I investigate incidents involving underage supers and power use.  This is the second time you¡¯ve gotten our attention in the last two weeks.¡±

    Agent Talil pointed at Sarah¡¯s chest.  Even trying to conceal it Sarah was nursing it and trying to make sure her shirt wasn¡¯t sitting on them.

    ¡°I was under the impression there was no physical interaction between you and the suspects.  Was there some part of the encounter that wasn¡¯t caught on video?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.  Abby intervened at this point before Sarah could respond.

    ¡°Ms.MacCloud is undergoing hormone therapy, one of the symptoms is sensitives breasts.  You can verify this with her medical records from the school.¡±

    Agent Talil looked at Abby.

    ¡°I will remind you, I¡¯m here to question Sarah, not you.¡±

    Abby smiled very sweetly.

    ¡°I will remind you that as per an agreement with the Imperial Council, and her grandparents, I am acting as her legal representative during this questioning.¡±

    Abby looked at Sarah.

    ¡°Which is one hundred percent voluntary, Sarah.  You don¡¯t have to answer any questions if you don¡¯t want, and I recommend against it, as your legal counsel.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she does, this is not voluntary.¡±

    ¡°Actually, no it is voluntary.  You see during the events you are investigating Sarah was a vampire, therefore any cooperation with MANA is voluntary.  One of our Seers has already investigated the matter and has concluded that Sarah acted within the laws regarding vampires.¡±

    The agent¡¯s eyes narrowed, and she looked between Sarah and Abby.

    ¡°What you¡¯re suggesting is not physically possible, she is either a vampire or she is not.¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect.  During afterschool lessons supervised by her Dorm Mother, Sarah has been having issues controlling her powers as you¡¯re aware. Sarah turned herself into a vampire using her powers.  She had challenges turning herself back which it would seem she has overcome, but during the time of her flight, when it was after dark, she was technically a vampire and therefore under our laws.  Which when it comes to power use are¡­ much more realistic than yours.¡±

    ¡°She used her normal powers during the event!¡±

    The agent¡¯s voice raised slightly.  She was sounding fairly incredulous at this turn of events.  Sarah was quite confused; How did Abby have all this information?  Then she realized¡­ Maria was a vampire and followed every single rule to the letter.  She winced and held her mouth because wincing made the wound inside hurt.  The agent pointed at Sarah¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°You were in a fight.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, I put my vampire tooth through my lip.  It didn¡¯t heal all the way.  It hurts.¡±

    Abby shook her head at Sarah.

    ¡°Remember Sarah, don¡¯t answer any questions.¡±

    Sarah blushed.  The agent tapped a few times on her tablet and looked at Sarah¡¯s ankle.

    ¡°This is all too convenient.  She¡¯s got life signs now.¡±

    Abby smiled again.

    ¡°It is the truth.  She had no life signs at the time of power use.  She also used her powers while wearing a limiter.  Both of these things prove our point.  She was in fact a vampire at the time of power use.  She could not have used her powers to toss those two people around if she were a mortal at the time.  The limiter would have prevented such exertions.  Both the power of mental compulsion and telekinesis have been exhibited by various vampires over the eons.  The one that comes to mind is Enid Aurelius, her uses of it are well documented.¡±

    ¡°You lied to the media about them being supers.¡±

    ¡°Yes, at the request of the Headmistress and the Imperial Council.  It was an easier story then: She was a vampire at the time.  And MANA was eager to make a show of arresting her, and how embarrassing would it have been for you to have to release her after a worldwide broadcast of arresting her?  Your leadership is quite thankful for our intervention.  I guess you haven¡¯t checked your email yet.¡±

    Agent Talil¡¯s lips were a tight flat line as she typed notes into her tablet.  Then reviewed some notes.

    ¡°How do you explain the glowing eyes then?  She exhibits the same outward signs when she accesses her normal powers, as seen in her last unlicensed encounter.  Was she a vampire then too?¡±

    The agent¡¯s final words were in a mocking tone, almost daring Abby to make an excuse for this discovery.

    ¡°Also recorded by Enid Aurelius a symptom of her own telekinesis uses on occasion.  This can all be verified by Maria Aurelius.  In the end it doesn¡¯t matter.  Her intervention in the event in Munich was sanctioned by a Class Sigma protocol, MANA asked her to intervene, if not directly they did so by removing all power use limitations.  In this case, if she were a licensed super, she¡¯d be getting a medal from the Russian president.¡±

    The agent smiled at that.

    ¡°But is not a licensed super.¡±

    Abby returned the smile and tapped her holo tablet, then on the screen and swept her hand across it so the hologram was viewable by both sides.  It was the Earth Gov legislation regarding licensing of vampires.  Where it clearly states they are excluded from it.

    ¡°The legislation is clear.  Vampires do not require licensing.  It does not specify that the subject must permanently be a vampire.  Tell me did you see any power signature spikes when she was on that plane?¡±

    Agent Talil frowned and tapped through a few screens on her tablet which was very much the solid kind and a few years old.  The agent looked at Sarah directly in the eyes.

    ¡°You are claiming to have been physically a vampire at the time of this event?  That is your story?¡±

    Sarah nodded in the affirmative.  She had decided to take Abby¡¯s advice and say nothing.  The agent seemed frustrated.  Abby motioned to the door.

    ¡°I believe we have answered all of your questions to the extent they need to be answered Agent Talil, if there is nothing else?  Sarah is quite exhausted from her ordeal.  Now that she has managed to make herself mortal again, she is quite tired and suffering from all those nasty aches and pains mortals who are going through puberty suffer from.  She has a big week ahead, let¡¯s not make it any worse hmm?¡±

    Agent Talil held up her finger.

    ¡°One last question.  If this all happened as you said, and you¡¯d only been a vampire for a few hours:  How did you know how to use the vampiric abilities then Sarah?¡±

    Sarah looked at Abby.  She knew it was probably the fact she had a very old vampire who was slowing taking over her body.  She didn¡¯t exactly want to say that to a MANA agent, or an agent of the Imperial Council.  Based on her dream the precipitated her vampirism, Enid had threatened the entire council¡¯s lives.  Abby nodded to Sarah and spoke.

    ¡°Using vampiric abilities is like breathing is for you Agent Talil.  Even a freshly created vampire can use many of them.  For example, I could make myself faster than a normal human, twice as fast roughly and could see people¡¯s auras.  Which is why I can see you¡¯re still grasping at straws to find something to arrest Sarah for, but the fact is: The law is on her side, and so is your organization.  I suggest you retreat before this becomes an unsanctioned witch hunt.¡±

    Agent Talil folded the cover over her tablet and put it in her purse she didn¡¯t acknowledge Abby further her focus was still on Sarah.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be waiting and watching.  You¡¯re reckless and sooner or later your luck, or the patience of the people covering for you will wear out.¡±

    Abby let Agent Talil out of the room and closed the door.  She turned to Sarah.

    ¡°I already knew you were a vampire when you got in the car.  Even without the phone call I would have known by your aura.  Next time instead of hiding it you should tell an adult.  I suppose you did when you told Maria Aurelius.  She older than all the vampires in Moscow combined.  I don¡¯t know why the Imperial Council is so protective of you, but the Agent was right.  Our influence is substantial, but it only goes so far.  You need to stop pressing MANA¡¯s buttons.  Get some sleep.  I think that¡¯s about it for this investigation, but they¡¯ll be watching you whenever you¡¯re not at the school.  You can count on that.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Abby put her hand on the door handle and glanced back at Sarah.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you flipped back and forth but I¡¯m envious.  Giving up the freedom and control that comes as a vampire¡­  you have willpower, I¡¯ll give you that.¡±

    Sarah watched the door close and put her face in her hands.  She was sure she could never do the vampire thing again.  It was too easy to give into the power and arrogance that came with it.  She also knew what Abby told the Agent wasn¡¯t the truth.  The only difference in her powers as a vampire was that she had access to all of it.  She wasn¡¯t just some PL 8.  She couldn¡¯t delude herself.  She had access to all four energies of creation and everything in between.  When she was a vampire, she also saw no limits to what she could do with them.  She could feel the life force flowing through those two would-be hijackers, she could have snuffed their lives out with a thought.  Isis had been right.  They should be scared of her.  Sarah realized that she had good reason to be scared of the power she wielded.

    ¡°How did you resist using it?¡±

    She looked around.  She wasn¡¯t expecting an answer, but one came a few moments later, it was Enid¡¯s voice but there was no visual manifestation.

    ¡°It was simple, I chose not to.  Didn¡¯t always work out for me though.  There were a few times I got angry and things didn¡¯t go as planned.¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Suffice it to say, on the scale they¡¯d use, PL 17 events.¡±

    ¡°How did you control it?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t at first.  I gave in to it.  My daughter.  No not Eyre.  I know that¡¯s who you were thinking.  No, it was Hazel.  She told me how worried she was about what it was doing to me.¡±

    ¡°Hazel, she¡¯s trapped with Isis¡¯s daughter.¡±

    ¡°And my two youngest, my parents and my starfighter.¡±

    ¡°Can we rescue them?¡±

    ¡°Not like we are.  The forest is very dangerous, and we can¡¯t do it on Earth Prime.  Which I think is a ridiculous name but apparently this is the one where all the excess divine energy ended up out of an infinite number of universes.  If you open it the pocket universe¡­ it will kill you.  Also, you¡¯d need to do the vampire thing.  The creatures outside the shield would ignore you and even if they didn¡¯t, you¡¯d be immune to their spell plague.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean the energies involved in breaching that barrier would destroy our body.  We need a conduit or something.  I guess Lucius is right.  Didn¡¯t think that shit through.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound that stupid.  I mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Gee thanks.¡±

    ¡°What I was trying to say is based on what Maria has said about you and what I¡¯ve heard about you, you wouldn¡¯t have left your children trapped.  You would have had a way to save them.¡±

    ¡°I very much could have but I only had an instant in time to reorder the universe before Seraph took over.  The beginning of the process is clear as day to me, the end is muddled.  If I hadn¡¯t reordered everything, they would have died anyway¡­¡±

    ¡°If you reordered the universe¡­creation¡­everything then could you not have left yourself a hint near the end?¡±

    ¡°The kind of thing you¡¯d¡­we¡¯d need to do that would be so dangerous that I couldn¡¯t hazard someone bad getting their hands on it.  Like it would need to be able to break the laws of creation I put in place.  That is the one place that exists everywhere and everywhen.  I remember¡­ I remember trying change it so it didn¡¯t, but I couldn¡¯t even with all of Seraph¡¯s power.  Not even God could open it if he tried.  Only Seraph could and even if she wasn¡¯t ¡®sleeping¡¯.  I doubt she¡¯d do it.  She doesn¡¯t experience emotions like you and I.¡±

    ¡°How can that be if we¡¯re her?¡±

    ¡°Sure, our emotions have an impact on her but¡­ she¡¯s eternal.  She sees everything, knows everything.  What are a few lives to her who watches over an infinite number of living creatures that are sentient?  Sure, they mean everything to me, but to her, it¡¯s always big picture.¡±

    Sarah nodded then looked around.

    ¡°I like it better when I see you.¡±

    ¡°That takes a lot of spiritual energy.  Also interacting so much risks me taking over all the sooner so let¡¯s limit it hmm?  Just ignore me until you need something really important.  And by really important I¡¯m not talking about heart-to-heart conversations.  Take some painkillers and go to sleep kid.  Doctor¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not a doctor.¡±

    ¡°That is in fact incorrect.  I was at one time a licensed pediatric surgeon, and I also have a medical degree from the 29<sup>th</sup> century.  I¡¯m shutting up now.  Go to sleep.¡±

    Sarah sighed and curled up on the soft bed.  Her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.  She was hoping to wake up in the morning the fall sun streaming into the room but that was not her fate this night.  She opened her eyes, and she was sitting on a rock at the edge of an oasis.  The moon was at its apex and full.  Arrayed in front of her was a group of what appeared to be a desert tribal people.  They were dancing in circles around a fire.  One of them was different than the rest.  Her hair was almost white.  Like Sarah¡¯s she was pale the rest were dusky skinned and dark haired.  She was taller than Sarah and looked like a barbarian woman.  She was muscular and her shoulders were broad.  The group seemed to be celebrating something.

    The dancing settled and one of the elder women turned to where Sarah, or Enid sat and held her hands out palms up.  The rest turned and mimicked the elder woman save the fair-skinned girl.  The song was in a language Sarah should not have understood but she did¡­  spoke of a mother of darkness and mother of light.  It was almost a chant and Sarah recognized it as something similar as she¡¯d heard when she was younger.  One of her friend¡¯s mothers had been wiccan and she¡¯d heard the mother chanting it with a group of friends.  It was about Gaia the earth mother.  The source of life.  Where all life came from and returned to in the end.  Sarah touched her cheek.  She felt tears on them.  This dream felt like the rest.  Real.  She was breathing in the crisp air of the desert.

    Sarah began to realize the song was about her¡­ Enid¡­ Seraph.  She was the source of all life in this universe and to her it would return.  The cycle of death and rebirth.  The energy constantly renewing itself.  She pondered what Enid felt like at this moment.  She recalled a great victory and¡­ loss millions of dead in one night, her fault.  Her choice.  Was Enid showing her this on purpose?  Was she trying to reinforce the amount of power she wielded.  Or was this her searching for a reminder from their link?  Where did she end and where did Enid begin.  In the vision she heard a familiar voice.  It was the man¡­ Sextus Maria had called him, Enid¡¯s adoptive father.  The vampire emperor.

    ¡°I see it now.¡±

    Sarah blinked.  She realized this was thousands of years before Enid was born.  Did he know?

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The wolf-born.  I see why they supported your cause.  You are the embodiment of their mother earth.  No longer even a vampire.  I suppose you are what suits your needs.¡±

    Sarah realized this was wrong, this is not how the conversation went.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t how this conversation went¡­its wrong.¡±

    Sextus raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°It is your dream, child.¡±

    ¡°No, it is a memory.¡±

    ¡°What are dreams but memories re-processed by your subconscious?¡±

    ¡°Why am I seeing this then?¡±

    Sextus took a deep breath.

    ¡°Perhaps you are trying to tell yourself your powers aren¡¯t all bad?  Enid¡­ she was scared of her destiny.  What she knew, what she could see.  She asked me to erase her knowledge of her ability.  To my shame I did.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t be here you¡¯re trapped¡­¡±

    ¡°I am the third creation of God¡­  I am awake in my sleep.  Much like Isis I can see into dreams.  Enid is dear to me, as is Maria.  You are associated with both, of course I noticed you.  Especially the first time you interacted with a memory of me.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need any more vampires in my head!  I have four too many already.¡±

    He chuckled.

    ¡°I assure you, I¡¯m not in your head.  I just used this¡­ dream to speak to you.  You have questions, I have answers.¡±

    ¡°Did you make me a vampire after the last dream?¡±

    ¡°No, child, that was you.¡±

    ¡°Can I rescue you?¡±

    ¡°I do not know yet.  Enid was often short-sighted and rash to make decisions.  However, where her family is and was concerned, she was never reckless.  I suspect she had a plan, but she cannot remember it.¡±

    ¡°Can I be saved?¡±

    ¡°I do not see why not, just make Enid a new body.  There is damage done and some part of her will always be part of you and vice versa but there is no reason it cannot be stopped with a separation.¡±

    ¡°As if I can make a clone out of thin air.¡±

    ¡°You were thinking you can create and end life at a whim before you fell asleep, why would you think creating a body for someone is out of your power?¡±

    ¡°I can barely grow a plant without something going wrong.¡±

    ¡°Well, there is that.  And the power to create a whole new living being from nothing¡­ something bigger than a mouse might kill a mortal.  Would severely damage a vampire too.  But if you recall from Enid¡¯s memories, BMC created a clone of her in her original timeline.  They also created beings with superpowers.  Something you know from over-hearing Eyre speaking to Carly is happening on Earth-2.  If they have cloned her and there is an empty soulless vessel just waiting for someone to take it over that would be a simple spell for Maria.¡±

    ¡°Except I cannot get to Earth-2.  Its forbidden.¡±

    ¡°And you can turn into a vampire at will, you wield a fraction of the power of the being that recreated the universe.  You can likely jump between dimensions fairly easily with a minimum effort.¡±

    ¡°Yea, so easy I¡¯ll just open a portal to another dimension.  Just like I take the train to the mall and get my hair done.¡±

    ¡°Nothing worth doing is easy.  You asked if you could save yourself, I have provided my insight into the situation.  That is all I can do.¡±

    ¡°Probably why you were a good parent.¡±

    Sextus sighed.

    ¡°No, I was not a good parent.  In fact, I was the worst of parents.  I turned my children into vampires.  A good parent would have let them live their lives¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been a vampire, it didn¡¯t suck.¡±

    ¡°For one night, after countless nights I am tired.  Or was tired, my wife, is alive so it is worth waiting for her, but eternity can wear on a person.  For someone like Maria?  What does she have to look forward too?¡±

    ¡°She seems happy.¡±

    ¡°She is content, but her soul is missing.  She has no desire.  She does what she believes she should do and shows the emotions she believes she should show because that is what is done, but you know she is not happy.¡±

    ¡°I wish I could fix her.¡±

    ¡°She will have to fix herself.  The only reason she is walking and talking and not catatonic is she is a vampire.  Amara¡­ did not kill her as I asked.  She knew my heart wasn¡¯t in it but still death would have been a mercy for her.¡±

    ¡°No.  I do not believe that.  She can be saved.¡±

    ¡°I admire your zeal for doing the right thing.  Just be careful you do not let your zealousness lead you down a dark path.  Learn from Enid¡¯s mistakes.  Sometimes the right thing to do seems like the wrong thing to do.¡±

    ¡°That makes no sense.¡±

    ¡°One day it will child.¡±

    ¡°Why does it feel like I¡¯m talking to my grandfather?¡±

    ¡°Because I am very grandfatherly.  It¡¯s the beard so my grandchildren told me.¡±

    Sarah looked at Sextus.

    ¡°You know you don¡¯t look like a billion-year-old vampire.  More like a white Jesus.  Why are you white even?  Like didn¡¯t life start in Africa?¡±

    Sextus chuckled.

    ¡°I am Atlantean.  We were all male, except for Enid¡¯s original body and were all¡­different species and races.  I could have just as easily been one of the dinosaur men.  So, I just came out this way.  Chronos came out differently. Remus was my twin¡­  poor Remus.  This is a sad night.  It is the night he made an enemy of Enid.  And it would one day get him killed.¡±

    ¡°Back up for¡­ how could BMC have a clone of Enid on Earth-2?¡±

    ¡°She existed in this universe, and they have gotten super genes from somewhere.  Something tells me there is more going on under the surface then you realize with MANA, earth gov and the other universes.  You know BMC is Canadian and they signed the treaty.¡±

    Sarah blinked.  She did know all this and not from Enid.  Just from reading newspapers and such.

    ¡°How can you know that?¡±

    ¡°I have a similar gift to Isis as well, I can read minds, worry not, I only see surface thoughts and when I mentioned BMC you remembered a few things you didn¡¯t realize.  Come to think of it, perhaps it was your DNA they used?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You were responsible for two super events on Earth-2, would it not stand to reason they could have grabbed your DNA?  Possibly cloned you?¡±

    ¡°That is a disturbing thought.¡±

    ¡°Yet a possibility.  You need to stop pushing disturbing thoughts from your mind child.  You are highly intelligent.  If you would stop avoiding the truth¡­ what you could accomplish is limitless.  Don¡¯t do what Enid did and ignore it for decades.  If you look at things from other perspectives, you will be better for it.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t help her¡­ and I am stronger I could destroy what is left of your daughter, why are you trying to help me?¡±

    ¡°Because Enid doesn¡¯t want to win.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll know we talked.¡±

    ¡°Not likely.  You share some memories, but she can¡¯t see your thoughts no more then you see her.  In terms you¡¯d better understand.  Your two separate computers that share a database.  What you¡¯re processing she can¡¯t see.¡±

    ¡°Why couldn¡¯t she explain it like that?¡±

    ¡°I suspect it¡¯s because she still thinks like a girl born two thousand years ago sometimes.¡±

    Sarah looked back at the celebrating the wolf-born and pointed to the blonde girl.

    ¡°That¡¯s Hazel, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°That is my granddaughter.  I see a lot of her in you.  The two of you would make good friends.¡±

    ¡°If we can rescue her and you.¡±

    ¡°You should set your priorities.  Like they say on airplanes.  Put your mask on first.¡±

    ¡°So, find a way to fix Maria, then get her to fix me, then rescue people?  How do we even fix Maria?  Like¡­  if she doesn¡¯t want to be fixed?  Also, she will never break rules.¡±

    Sextus chuckled.

    ¡°Let me give you some insight into my daughter.  She has always followed the letter of the law and my rules right up until someone¡¯s life was in danger.  Then that goes out the window.  You cannot depend on emotional attachments right now, so you¡¯ll have to appeal to the logical side of her mind.  Imagine how you processed things as a vampire.  It comes down to a numbers game.  So, you¡¯ll need to make a logical argument for her to get her soul back.¡±

    ¡°But how do we even find it?¡±

    ¡°Something she is fully capable of.  The bigger concern is the soul transference spell from Atlantis to save yourself.  It is in Enid¡¯s Atlantean pack which is currently in Eyre¡¯s possession.  It resides in an Atlantean tablet, a duplicate of Maria¡¯s spell book.¡±

    ¡°And how do we get to Earth-2?  All the gateways are heavily guarded by MANA.  I know I should be able to do it, but how do I know I¡¯m going to end up in the right place?  And once we¡¯re there how do we even find a clone if one exists?  Also, if I¡¯m supposed to do it how do I even know if it¡¯s the right version of Earth, Enid said there are an infinite amount of infinite possibilities¡±

    Sextus pondered for a few moments.

    ¡°I suspect you¡¯re going to require outside help.  Whether she will or not¡­ that is the real challenge.¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Just a girl from the future and past.¡±

    ¡°Enid was quite¡­right when she said this place touches everywhere and everywhen.  Your this girl has a unique¡­  skill set.  Power set?  She is wasting her potential, however.  Living out fantasy lives.  I suppose it is how she copes.¡±

    ¡°I thought time travel was impossible¡­ or Enid said it was but you¡¯d get kicked to a different wild universe¡­ or something.¡±

    ¡°Well, the rules don¡¯t really apply to Serena.¡±

    ¡°How is that even possible?¡±

    ¡°Well, the only other being the rules don¡¯t apply to is the person who controls and sees everything.  And what is she?  Follow my logic. Serena is only ever one place at once.  She¡¯s in denial and is your age.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you just talk to a future version of her?¡±

    ¡°Let us just leave it at, that is impossible.  I know it does not satiate your curiosity, but we do not have time to teach you the requisite background information.  You¡¯re about to be woken up.  You may have an odd visitor in the near future.  You¡¯ll realize it is Serena when she shows up.  You can trust me on that.¡±

    Someone knocked on Sarah¡¯s door ripping her from the memory.

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Russian Assembly

    Sarah was still out of sorts after her strange conversation with Sextus.  Speaking to Lucius and Enid was easy.  The mental contact with Sextus was like touching an alien intelligence.  Almost like Isis.  Though where the golden-eyed goddess¡¯s interest was in her daughter, Sarah could feel the concern and gentleness in Sextus.  She thought she might have been programmed to believe that the image Sextus portrayed was one of love and kindness.  He looked like all the artwork of Jesus, or was it the other way around?  Either way, Sextus lived up to the ideal, or so it seemed.  In all her visions save for the one where they watched Pompeii be destroyed she had felt only love and trust for the man.  Like she used to have for her father before the betrayal.  The connection had exhausted her even though it was morning she felt like she hadn¡¯t slept.

    She opened her door and blinked slowly at the woman who greeted her.  She was dressed professionally but otherwise was quite plain. The woman had her fingers wrapped around a solid tablet and had it held to her chest.  Sarah mused that the woman seemed nervous.  She wondered why then it dawned on her she had very publicly pulled a super girl twice.  It was the first time anyone had looked at her like she was dangerous on Earth Prime.  She¡¯d assumed most humans were used to dealing with powered people as they called them. Sarah motioned her in and rubbed her eyes while walking to sit on the bed.

    Even with her usual days that she woke up at five-thirty for her work outs she wasn¡¯t a morning person.  She was still sore from the abuse Enid had laid on her with her own telekinesis.  She sat down and looked up at the woman waiting for her to speak.  Finally the woman pulled her tablet away from her chest and tapped a few times to get through the passcode.  She smiled at Sarah.  Sarah could tell it was somewhat forced.  She glanced at her holo-tablet which seconded as a watch on the small LED screen.  Seven in the morning.  She turned her attention back to the woman.

    ¡°Hello Sarah, I am Kira.  I¡¯m one of the President¡¯s executive assistants.  He¡¯s assigned me to help you keep to your schedule.  Are we alright to start?¡±

    Sarah rubbed her eyes and yawned.  She nodded to Kira.

    ¡°Very well.  You are scheduled for breakfast with the family this morning a seven-thirty.  Then you will be given a tour of the Federal Assembly, led by myself.  You will then share lunch with the President and his advisor on Super Affairs.  In the afternoon you will be given a tour of one of our Super housing units.  Then you will share dinner with the president and family.  After dark you have been scheduled in a meeting with the Vampire Lord of Moscow.  You have more time scheduled after that with his Press Secretary and Social Media Advisor.  Do you have a tablet I can send todays Itinerary too?¡±

    Sarah tapped her wrist and the holo-projection for her tablet appeared she swept it towards Kira with her hand.  Kira seemed confused initially then realized she was looking at a screen with a code she needed to enter on her own tablet.

    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s the only tablet I have.  It¡¯s the one the school provided.¡±

    Kira nodded.

    ¡°I am sorry. I read about them on a future tech blog.  I had no idea they were in production, let alone in the hands of the public.¡±

    ¡°The entire first year at Aurelius Academy was provided with them.  I have a discount code if you¡¯re interested.  I think they want us to show them off so they can sell more.¡±

    Kira smiled, a genuine smile this time.

    ¡°Thank you, Sarah, I would appreciate that.¡±

    ¡°No problem.  I¡¯m sorry you have to deal with a sleepy teenager.  I¡¯m usually up earlier then this but I¡¯m still exhausted.¡±

    ¡°Yes, jet lag.  You¡¯ll be fine in a day or so, I¡¯m sure.  I tried to make today as easy on you as possible.  I left the hockey stuff until nearer the end of your trip.  Something to look forward too after all the boring stuff you¡¯re not really interested in is out of the way.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a visit to Lenin¡¯s tomb in there?  I hear you can¡¯t visit Moscow and not visit.¡±

    Kira quirked her head to the side.

    ¡°Lenin¡¯s tomb?  That¡¯s been gone since nineteen-sixty-one.¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°Oh, I guess not then.¡±

    ¡°He is in the Kremlin Necropolis I can schedule stop, if you would like to pay your respects.  I had no idea you were old-school Russian.  I should have assumed with how fluent you are.  I apologize.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, no its alright.  No need to do that. I¡¯m from Earth-2.  Things are different there.  I just didn¡¯t realize how different.  I¡¯m sorry.  I should have.¡±

    Kira¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°You¡¯re a super.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I did not think other Earths had them.¡±

    ¡°My father is from this Earth.  He was a PL 2.  I guess they did not expect him to have a child that was so strong.  They should have.  All of the women in his family have been Archmages.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re not a PL 8?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m assuming I¡¯m like my grandmother, PL 15.¡±

    ¡°An archmage with superpowers.  No wonder the president is so concerned about you enjoying your time here.  I¡¯m so sorry I shouldn¡¯t have said that.¡±

    Sarah giggled softly.

    ¡°That is no secret.  There is a soldier who works at the school, Misha.  He¡¯s been giving me the hard sell on Russia.  I assume me saying yes to this trip is why his daughter got into Aurelius.¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously considering Russia as your home after school?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°So far.  The US and Scotland haven¡¯t reached out.  I guess they assume me going home was a give in.  I am not sure.  Russia on my Earth was a bit¡­  the President and the Oligarchs well they weren¡¯t good people.  Invaded Ukraine randomly.  Trying to relive the old Imperial glory days, I guess?  I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d like it here, but it seems¡­ at least from the news and the internet that it¡¯s a lot like the western countries.¡±

    Kira nodded.

    ¡°Yes.  I¡¯ve been to the US and Canada, and it is very similar.  Of course, we have differences.  We¡¯re much larger so our culture varies.  President Volkov really broke up the oil cartel here and rooted out corruption from the old guard.  The Oligarch¡¯s haven¡¯t been a thing since the early nineties.  Most were¡­ executed for crimes against Russia.  I¡¯m not sure I agree with the choice, but I was very young at the time.  My parents said he led us to a new golden age.  Whatever that means.¡±

    Sarah smiled.

    ¡°They were rich men getting richer off the people¡¯s suffering.  I don¡¯t agree with anyone dying for crimes but maybe it was the only way to deal with their like because all they could hear was violence?¡±

    Kira smiled at Sarah.

    ¡°You sound very smart for a teenager.¡±

    ¡°IQ test at Aurelius says I¡¯m a genius.  I think its completely wrong.  But what do I know?¡±

    Kira laughed softly.

    ¡°Thank you, Sarah.¡±

    Sarah quirked and eyebrow.

    ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°After seeing you on the news I thought¡­ well I thought you were going to be very difficult to work with like other Super¡¯s we¡¯ve had through here.  But you seem humble.¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°Depends on the day.  I better get ready for that breakfast.  I¡¯m not the fastest person in the world.¡±

    Breakfast with the president was a quiet affair.  Sarah answered any questions asked but found herself quite tongue tied in the presence of the handsome sixteen-year-old son of the president.  She could fell twenty-foot-tall men in power armor, but one good-looking teenage boy and she was powerless.  She managed to make it through breakfast without embarrassing herself too badly but just barely.  She was in the midst of drinking her orange juice when the boy whose name was Erik, spoke about her upcoming trip to the assembly.  She almost spit it out when he made a suggestion about her morning trip.

    ¡°Father, I should go to the assembly with Sarah, so she¡¯s not bored to tears.¡±

    The president nodded.

    ¡°Good idea.¡±

    The president looked to his wife.

    ¡°Could you arrange it with Kira and let the school know?¡±

    His wife nodded.  Sarah had a small hope Erik¡¯s mother would suggest he should go to school.  The woman doubled down on the thought.

    ¡°It will be educational for you, its too bad we didn¡¯t think of this and send suggest your whole class attend.¡±

    Sarah silently thanked whoever was listening to her that it wasn¡¯t his whole class.  She wasn¡¯t sure if God was appropriate after her conversation with Enid.  Or Seraph, since in effect she was her.  It seemed rather¡­  she let the thought drop and realized she hadn¡¯t taken her medication yet today.  While she was pondering whom she should have faith in and the nature of the multiverse there were a couple of decisions made and she¡¯d missed the whole conversation.   She excused herself politely and took her new dosage of ADHD medication.

    Sarah hid in her ensuite until someone came to get her.  She spent most of it staring into the mirror.  She missed the power and control she felt as a vampire.  She felt so weak and helpless as a human.  Enid was right, it was addictive.  Her ADHD was a product of her brain¡¯s wiring.  As a vampire she was more like an entity possessing the body.   Her physical brain meant little it seemed.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  After feeling the absolute freedom that came with vampirism, she realized she would never be the same.  Impending non-existence had a way of helping her resist the urge to shift again.   If she got Enid out, she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d be able to stop herself.  She heard Erik call out.

    ¡°You looked fine at breakfast.  Not sure you needed another half an hour in there.¡±

    Sarah blushed as she exited the ensuite.

    ¡°I wasn¡­  I¡­ mean¡­ thank you.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°After that show for the reporters I was expecting something different.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s cheeks turned a deeper shade of crimson.  She once again cursed her lack vampirism.  Embarrassment was a thing for the living, and she was stuck living now.

    ¡°I was different then.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°Girls. Anyway, security detail is waiting.  I hear we got The Bear watching us today.  Guess the more subtle ones were busy. Or he bullied them into letting him be your security.¡±

    Sarah glanced at Erik as they walked towards the palace exit.

    ¡°Bear?¡±

    ¡°You know Grizzly Bear?  Big, burly, hairy when he needs to be?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know much about Russian supers, do you?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.  He chuckled.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re in for a treat.  I heard it from a reliable source he¡¯s a fan.¡±

    Sarah blinked.  She had superheroes who were her fans?  She was completely confused by such a prospect.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t look up Goliath at all did you?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No.¡±

    Erik laughed.

    ¡°He put Bear in the hospital a year ago.  Was on the news.  MANA has been trying to catch Goliath for years, but he could shrink so small they could never catch him.  He¡¯s been a problem for Russia for a while.  Working with the Chechens.  Its why you were such big news last night.  Probably why we have the extra security. You¡¯re not making friends with our southern neighbors.¡±

    Sarah shrugged a bit.

    ¡°I just did what I had to.  Wasn¡¯t trying to show off, make friends, or enemies.¡±

    Erik opened the door for her.  She was greeted by what could only be described as bear of a man holding her door open.  He had a thick beard and smiled kindly at her as he held the limousine door open for her.  Sarah slid inside followed by both Erik and Griz.  She found out that¡¯s what he goes by for his friends.  Which she was one of before they met in person.  Griz settled into his seat.  He seemed almost nervous.  He tried speaking English.  He seemed very rusty at it and his accent made it almost untranslatable.  He¡¯d been out of Aurelius for a while.  Sarah held up her hand.

    ¡°Its alright, I speak Russian.¡±

    Griz beamed.

    ¡°I¡¯m so happy to meet you, Sarah.¡±

    ¡°Really?  I thought MANA was pretty mad at me.¡±

    Griz chortled and waved his massive hand dismissively.

    ¡°Politicians and pencil pushers.  Us Agents think you are awesome and can¡¯t wait for you to join us.¡±

    Sarah blushed she really had no intention of joining MANA.  The more she found out the more she saw MANA for what it was, an organization to suppress people like her.  Oppress even.  Sure, everything seemed okay for Supers but no license and too powerful?  You get tossed in a hellscape.  That wasn¡¯t freedom that was just a symbol on clothes, a number stamped on your wrist.  People of Earth Prime would see that if they¡¯d found out what really happened in Germany.  She realized Griz was talking to her and that she¡¯d missed half of what he¡¯d said but she got the gist from the end.

    ¡°Never thought to break his bones so he couldn¡¯t shift sizes!  Too bad he¡¯ll never be up for a rematch.  You sure put him in his place.  They say he¡¯ll never walk again.  Almost Griz style!¡±

    Griz cracked his knuckles.  Sarah felt a bit sick to her stomach.  She¡¯d heard those bones get disintegrated.  She hadn¡¯t done it, but still she remembered it vividly.  Griz obviously thought it was her and that she was a kindred spirit.  She put on a fake smile and nodded.  Griz grinned.

    ¡°If you were older, I¡¯d take you out with the other agents who fought him. Your glass would never be empty.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°And those two on the airplane!  Stopping those bullets!  Tossing them around like sacks of potatoes!  That¡¯s how to make a point!¡±

    Sarah was starting to see what Erik meant about lack of subtlety.  Griz seemed almost just one the guys talking about an MMA fight.  Like this was all some game.  The opposite of Sarah¡­ or was he?  She recalled when she was a vampire how insignificant the two hijackers had seemed.  Blood sacks that had the audacity to threaten her safety.  Not the passenger¡¯s safety, her safety.  How dare they?  Did they¡­  Yes.  Now she saw the dangers associated with that condition.  If she was vampire Sarah, she would be discussing the gory details. She closed her eyes.  Very slippery slope.

    *****

    Sarah was thankful for Griz¡¯s presence the whole day.  She found herself being fairly fond of his company.  He wore his heart on his sleeve.  He didn¡¯t seem very complicated.  She was sure there was more to him then she saw, but she found out he had a wife and three children.  A son and two daughters.  Sarah was somewhat comforted to know that an active super could have a family.  She should have known this but her Scottish grandmother was retired from working actively.  Her grandfather was just a doctor.  No super battles in the streets.  As day transitioned into twilight Griz bid his farewells after a few selfies with Sarah.

    Sarah wasn¡¯t sure what to wear to attend vampire court and speak to the Lord of Moscow.  She wasn¡¯t even sure what a vampire Lord was.  She looked into the mirror and quite plainly asked her reflection.

    ¡°What should I wear?¡±

    Enid¡¯s form shimmered into existence sitting on the vanity like she had the night before.  She looked Sarah up and down.

    ¡°Depends on who¡¯s showing up.  Fourteen-year-old you or vampire you?¡±

    ¡°You said turning into the vampire would speed up you taking over.¡±

    Enid rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Teenagers, you never listen!  I said, losing yourself in the vampire would make it faster.  Just being a vampire, meh.  So long as you¡¯re still you instead of letting your emotions go, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Sarah looked at Enid.

    ¡°But that is the whole point of being a vampire!¡±

    ¡°No, its not.  You¡¯d think seeing Helen, Eyre and¡­ well Maria¡¯s a bad example currently, but you¡¯d think my daughters would show you that you can be human and a vampire at the same time.¡±

    ¡°It seems dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Oh, and showing up to a room full of blood addicts as a blood bag is a good idea?  You know how easy it is the see humans as food.¡±

    ¡°But its against the law to use my powers.¡±

    ¡°Yea, a stupid law.  Besides if you¡¯re a vampire and you¡¯re there and someone tries something you will mop the floor with them, and MANA will be none the wiser.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still not sure how.¡±

    ¡°Its like breathing kid.  You want to be a vampire, you¡¯re a vampire, you want to pull out the angel you just let your physical form go.  This is a skin.  A shell.  It is nothing to us.  Though I suggest not doing the angel.  Not sure how the humans will react.  Also, it involves letting go of your physical body which might just correlate to your brain giving it up to me.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t our true form.  Truth, is it hasn¡¯t been the true form of the Grey women¡¯s family.¡±

    ¡°So, if I have a child, it will be¡­¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re not careful absolutely.  So far, I¡¯ve managed to keep my kids just a bit divine but if you¡¯re not careful you could make another Seraph¡­¡±

    ¡°I might have.  I¡¯m not sure.  Your father visited me and was talking about a girl my age but was really¡­ evasive.¡±

    Enid looked horrified.

    ¡°I thought I had those memories locked down tight.¡±

    ¡°Not¡­ that father.  Sextus.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure, that¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°No, he actually spoke to me, not¡­ a memory. Him.¡±

    ¡°Not possible.  He¡¯s sleeping¡­¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s watching.  Okay¡­if I turn into a vampire what should I wear?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, turn and see what you feel like.¡±

    Sarah closed her eyes and opened them.  She watched as they shimmered from green to black and then were silver again.  She felt the hunger return and looked at her fangs in her reflection.  She was careful not to release herself too far.  She licked her fangs.

    ¡°Something that shows off what I¡¯ve been dealing with all these hormones for.¡±

    ¡°Go for it then, kid.  My fashion advice is black cargo pants and a metal concert t-shirt.  You¡¯re much better with this stuff then I am.¡±

    ¡°The dress I bought with Amee before I left.  The one I was planning on wearing to the gala.¡±

    Enid threw up her hands.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?  I¡¯m not your mom.  Do what you want.  One last thing.  Stay cognizant of your surroundings with the vampires.  The pugmentia especially, are a backstabbing lot.¡±

    ¡°Pugmentia?¡±

    ¡°Just¡­ trailer trash of vampires.  Watch your back.  I¡¯m out.¡±

    Enid evaporated.  Sarah blinked a few times.  Apparently, that is all the advice she was getting.  She pulled on the dress and looked at herself in the mirror.  She did not physically appear any different but in her mind¡¯s eye she was much more attractive as one of the undead.  She licked her lips and wished she had some fresh blood suddenly.  She put on her heels and made her way to the entrance to wait for her ride.

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Vampires Ball

    While Sarah waited, she did something she hadn¡¯t done before.  She looked in a mirror in the palace entryway and applied lipstick.  She had been carrying a stick with her since she was allowed to wear it by her mother, but she never put it on herself.  She¡¯d picked up a stick of blood red lipstick when shopping with Amee, at her friend¡¯s insistence.  Amee swore it went well with Sarah¡¯s normally pale skin, something being a vampire just enhanced it.  She allowed herself a peak at her fangs. Erik had snuck up on her and spoke to her.

    ¡°I did not take you for the make-up type.¡±

    Sarah smiled and glanced around.  Even while trying to keep herself on a tight leash as a vampire there was a euphoria that came along with it that made her inhibitions evaporate.  She glanced around and seeing no one was looking she did something she had wanted to do all day.  She pressed Erik against a wall out of the camera¡¯s view and pressed her lips on his.  Something pushed her to let him feel her fangs slip across his bottom lip as they broke their kiss.  He leaned against the wall stunned by Sarah¡¯s kiss.  Sarah waved to him and walked out the door.  Her supernatural senses had told her a car had pulled up.  She could smell the vampire approaching to ring the doorbell.  He looked rather surprised to be greeted by Sarah.  She spoke before he could.

    ¡°Thank you.  Let¡¯s get this over with hmm?¡±

    He nodded.  Sarah glanced over her shoulder to Erik and winked while giving him a small wave.  She rode in the backseat of the same armored SUV as she had been in before.  She motioned to the fridge.

    ¡°May I?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only blood, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Sarah smiled showing her fangs.

    ¡°I know, and I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°As you like then, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Sarah opened the cooler and pulled out a bag.  She pulled the seal off and started sucking on it.  Her nose wrinkled instantly.  This wasn¡¯t the blood of Sextus, or Amee.  It tasted stale.  There was no emotion to it.  No euphoria.  Just cold¡­sustenance.  Like¡­ flavorless porridge.  Not disgusting but not the real thing.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°Synthetic blood.  You don¡¯t like it?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ nothing.¡±

    He chuckled.

    ¡°You get used to it.  Better than a Reaper coming after you, yes?¡±

    Sarah resisted the urge to ask what a Reaper was.  Then she realized it must be someone like Helen or Cindie.  They had strange swords.  Probably for parting vampires from their body parts.  Like their heads.  She swallowed the synthetic blood hard at the thought.

    ¡°Not allowed to drink from humans?¡±

    ¡°Sure we are.  Has to be willing humans.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s easy¡­¡±

    ¡°Sure, until a Reaper or MANA figure out what you¡¯ve been up to.¡±

    Sarah nibbled on her bottom lip.  At least it was going to keep her going.

    ¡°Used to be different before¡­  Nice to be open, still talk to family.  You young ones should be used to this.  How did someone get permission to turn you so young?¡±

    Sarah frowned.  She realized the positions he¡¯d just put herself in.

    ¡°I turned myself.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re one of the cursed?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, cursed?  Huh?  No, I can turn into whatever I want.  It¡¯s part of my power.¡±

    ¡°And you chose a vampire of all things?  Why not a werewolf?  An adult?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°When in Rome?¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s better to be one of the vampires then food for vampires when you¡¯re visiting us.¡±

    Sarah tossed the plastic synthetic blood pack into the trash can in the back of the SUV.

    ¡°Especially when you get that¡­ cardboard.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°So, you¡¯ve had a drink from a human then?  Few young ones can say that.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°It is quite the rush.¡±

    Sarah nodded shifted in her seat remembering the lustful rich blood that had cross her tongue when she drank from Amee.  He glanced in the rear-view mirror.

    ¡°Don¡¯t spread that around.  A lot of young ones choose to be disgusted by the idea.  It seems to make them feel better.  The less they know about how it feels the better for them.  If they never know what they¡¯re missing the synthetic blood will be heaven to them.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be that old¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not but before that it was mixed blood.  No euphoria.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Even the vampires had their rules apparently.  Which kind of sucked.  No one was free in this world.  She sighed.

    ¡°You¡¯re in a limiter and you can still change?  I thought they stopped power use.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°They¡­ help control them.  Like umm¡­ training wheels.  But don¡¯t need it as a vampire.  Can only do vampire stuff, which is easier to control.¡±

    He nodded.  Sarah pondered if she was sharing too much.  Enid had warned her about these lot.  She wasn¡¯t sure what Pugmentia were but she didn¡¯t ask either.  If it was like being called trailer trash the targets of that title were seldom impressed with the reference.  Cursed was something she could ask about.

    ¡°So¡­ there are vampires who did not get turned normally?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Very rare.  Magical curses, or something to that effect.  Not sure of the specifics but they are always odd balls.  The two I¡¯ve met seem to feel like this is a curse.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s a gift.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.  Immortality?  Power?  Easy diet to follow?  Work for the Lord and he pays for your clothes and home.  Great life.¡±

    Sarah giggled at the easy diet to follow remark.

    ¡°How old are you?  Is that rude to ask?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m over a hundred years turned.  Grew up in the 19<sup>th</sup> century.¡±

    ¡°Amazing.  What do you think of how the world changed?¡±

    ¡°Russia is better than it was.  Cars smell better then horse ass.¡±

    Sarah leaned forward.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem that old.¡±

    ¡°I try not to take life to seriously.  Or unlife as the case may be.  Not like the stuffed shirts you¡¯re going to meet tonight.  The Lord being the exception.  He¡¯s a good man.  Old¡­very old. Remembers the old Emperor.¡±

    Sarah put her chin on the top of her hands as she leaned on the divider.

    ¡°What do you think of the current Empress?¡±

    ¡°That is a loaded question. You are at her school.¡±

    Sarah smiled.

    ¡°I won¡¯t tell.  I promise.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t know.  Her changes¡­  well they were changes.  Things are better and worse.  Used to be able to drink when we wanted how we wanted.¡±

    ¡°How about Isis?¡±

    ¡°Who is that?¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°She¡¯s a member of the council.  Sort of¡­ a friend of mine.¡±

    ¡°Now I understand the Lord being so adamant about your safety and ensuring your visit goes well.  I thought it was the Empress.¡±

    Sarah shook her head slightly.

    ¡°No, Eyre¡­the Headmistress¡­ Empress.  I don¡¯t know Isis has always been honest with me.  The Empress not so much.  Also, I get the sense Isis is the one everyone listens to and just lets the Headmistress take all the crap¡­ you know?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Makes sense.  Let the Empress risk her neck and take the blame.  What is Isis like?  Is she old?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s very¡­very old.  Nine thousand?  She looks like she¡¯s made of marble.  But her skin is soft.  She has golden eyes.  She seems¡­ normal though but you can tell she¡¯s so far beyond you¡­  like you¡¯re looking at a goddess.  I¡¯m not sure.  Every time I¡¯ve dealt with her, she has been honest and friendly.  Almost kind.  As kind as I think she can be.  I can tell she¡¯s let her human feelings go though.  I can see why.  It¡¯s nice to feel in control¡­¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s so old she has probably had too.  Imagine the insanity that would spawn feeling everything as a human for so long.  Losing everyone you care about or turning them, then their feelings melting away.¡±

    Sarah nodded she was about to ask another question, then stopped herself to ask the polite question.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I did not ask your name.¡±

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    He smiled.

    ¡°Andrew.¡±

    Sarah leaned her head to the side.

    ¡°Andrew?¡±

    ¡°Yes, is there something wrong with that name?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know I was expecting something extremely Russian.¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°No, my mother was British.  I was named after my grandfather on her side.¡±

    Sarah smiled and leaned back glancing at the cooler of synthetic blood.  She glanced up and he nodded.  She pulled out another bag and started sucking it down.  Once past the initial shock she had to admit it wasn¡¯t the worst thing she¡¯d ever had.  There was some tofu she recalled that surpassed it by a long shot.  She finished it off then refreshed her lipstick.  Andrew had fallen into silence.  Sarah decided to tap her wrist and look over what she¡¯d missed in the last twenty-four hours.  She wasn¡¯t pleased with what she was reading.  Not that the various news stories painted her in a bad light.  Just that there were news stories at all.  She swiped her hand over the hologram and sunk into her seat.  The pair drove silently until Andrew pulled into an underground parking lot.  He didn¡¯t reach her door by the time she¡¯d gotten out.

    Sarah¡¯s sixth sense triggered.  She shoved Andrew into the car with more strength than she realized her vampiric body possessed.  Her instinct wasn¡¯t to use her telekinesis. It was to remove the threat.  She realized everything had slowed down around her.  The bullets were stopped in midair.  She looked around and saw a pair of men in tactical body armor holding assault rifles.  She knew they were men she could smell it on them.  Hear the heart beats.  She danced through the wall of bullets gracefully and clotheslined both men.  She hit them so hard they bounced off the wall and face planted on the concrete.  As the first drops of blood splattered across the floor of the parking garage time resumed its normal flow for her and the bullets pelted the magically reinforced SUV leaving not even a scratch.

    Sarah grabbed the men by the top of their back armor and slammed them onto the ground again.  The armor could stop bullets but the amount of blunt force trauma inflicted by her ridiculous amounts of vampiric strength shattered the plates.  They were still alive.  Sarah hadn¡¯t meant to do as much harm as she did.  While she had absolute control over her muscles, she hadn¡¯t expected them to be able to produce so much force so she just did what she always did, she used everything she could muster.  She had intended to ask the men who sent them, but they were in no shape to answer.  They would need a full-on trauma team and there was a high chance they would not survive.

    Enid shimmered into existence in a car mirror.  She was shaking her head.

    ¡°See?  I told you vampires were dicks.¡±

    Sarah pointed at the two dying men.

    ¡°They¡¯re not vampires!¡±

    Enid shrugged.

    ¡°So what?  They came after you with silver bullets.  You think they were going to have a nice chat with you?  Probably Chechens looking for some revenge, based on their tats.  You probably took out their sister or brother or some bullshit on that plane.  No use feeling bad for them kid.  They would have done the same to you if they could.  Self-defense.  Enough said.¡±

    ¡°How did I move so fast?¡±

    ¡°You can alter the flow of time.  Its instinctual, burns up blood awful fast though.  Bet you¡¯re feeling hungry right about now.  Also, all that strength you used, not cheap either.  You probably could have taken these two out with your normal human strength.  You hit them hard enough you could have thrown a train engine.  Good armor though, they¡¯re still breathing, for now.  I mean if I were in control they¡¯d be dead and their blood would be replacing what I used to put them down.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s murder.¡±

    ¡°No pumpkin, that¡¯s life as a vampire.  They want to attack you; They are offering themselves up for dinner.¡±

    Sarah whispered harshly.

    ¡°Why did you tell me to turn into this then?¡±

    ¡°If I hadn¡¯t, you¡¯d have bullets in you right now.  Think about that kid.¡±

    Enid evaporated from the mirror when Andrew approached her from behind.  He was looking between Sarah and the two dying men.  He pulled out his cell phone and made a call.

    ¡°Take out, two, parking garage of Lord¡¯s office.  Also check on security.  How did they get in here?¡±

    Sarah was looking down at the men who were bleeding out on the ground.  She started making her own call to emergency services.  She wasn¡¯t sure what number that was here in Russia.  Andrew put his hand around her forearm and shook his head.  Sarah looked back down at the men.  They¡¯d stopped breathing.  She was glad she was a vampire right now.  If she were human she¡¯d be vomiting.  This time the blood was on her hands.  She hadn¡¯t watched Enid kill two humans; She had done it herself.  She looked at her hands and her arms.  There was no sign she¡¯d just ended two lives.  She hadn¡¯t even got blood on her shoes.  Andrew released her arm as Sarah swiped away the hologram.  He ended his call and glanced around.

    A van pulled up from lower in the garage and four men got out.  Two of them had body bags wrapped under their arms.  They nodded to the pair.  Andrew motioned for Sarah to follow him.  The pair got on an elevator.  He seemed rather calm.  This shouldn¡¯t have surprised her.  She was rather calm on the outside too.  This was how vampires lost their humanity.  One life at a time.  She should be in shock, but her body just wouldn¡¯t allow her mind to do that to herself.  A voice inside her, maybe it was Enid¡¯s voice or maybe it was just her own reinforcing what Enid had said.  They gave her no choice.  She would always pick her own life over someone trying to harm her.

    Andrew glanced at Sarah.  He had his hands folded behind his back as they rode the elevator to the vampire court.  Sarah was staring straight ahead.  She knew killing people was wrong.  She fundamentally knew it in her core.  Enid¡¯s lose morals where the sanctity of life was concerned must be the reasons it was so easy for her to justify her actions.  That was the only explanation.  Andrew finally spoke.

    ¡°You did not have to push me aside. I am here to protect you, not the other way around.¡±

    Enid¡¯s reflection appeared in the mirror finish of the elevator panel in front of Sarah and spoke.

    ¡°Yes, you did.  Silver bullets would have put him down fast.  Pugmentia have issues with the purity of it.  Or the concept of purity of it.  Comes from their tainted blood.  Original sin.  They were created from blood stolen from Sextus.  Those two meant to kill any vampire protectors you had.  I figure torture was probably on the table after they got their hands on you.  Stupid mortals.  Even without being a vampire you could have erased them with a snap of your fingers.¡±

    Sarah glanced at the reflection but did not answer.  She had no wish to look insane at this point.  Andrew seemed to take Sarah¡¯s glance and silence as a cue to continue.

    ¡°It looks bad that I could not protect you.¡±

    Sarah looked at Andrew.

    ¡°They were silver bullets.  They meant to kill you.¡±

    ¡°How did you know they were silver?¡±

    ¡°I can move so fast as a vampire time stands still for everyone else.¡±

    ¡°A girl your age should not¡­ should not be in a predicament where people could get hurt.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to.  I didn¡¯t understand how strong I was.¡±

    ¡°Many new vampires make that mistake if they did not receive the proper education.  If you move so fast likely it multiplied the strength many times.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that.  I¡¯m not moving fast¡­ everything is else is just moving slower?  I don¡¯t¡­  its new.¡±

    Andrew nodded.

    ¡°It is best not to dwell on such things.¡±

    Sarah was almost the same height as Andrew who was just a touch over six foot tall.

    ¡°I just killed two people.  I will never forget that.¡±

    ¡°It can be done¡­¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m immune, and even if it could be done the trauma still remains and you slowly go crazy from random nightmares.  No thank you.  Been there, done that.¡±

    Andrew looked as if he were to inquire more but then thought the better of it and simply said.

    ¡°I sense you are just as immortal as I am.  Even if you¡¯re only temporarily a vampire.  People will die in your lifetime.  You have superpowers, some of them may be at your hands.  You have to choose whether you¡¯re going to suffer for the rest of eternity with the guilt or move past it.¡±

    Enid¡¯s reflections smirked at Andrew¡¯s words.  Then spoke herself.

    ¡°Guilt is like a sack you fill with stones as you walk through life.  Do not carry a full sack:  Learn what you can from each stone.  Keep the knowledge you gain but throw the stone away.¡±

    Sarah blinked at Enid¡¯s reflection.  Out of everything she expected to pass through Enid¡¯s lips, she would never have guessed she would hear very proverb sounding philosophical statements.  She repeated the statement out loud.  Andrew nodded to her.

    ¡°A Japanese POW told me that in World War 2 when I expressed my regret over his treatment.  Very wise man.  Poor man lost his family in Hiroshima.  Had nothing to return home to after the war.  Yet he still went back with his head held high.  Taught Karate¡­ last I heard.¡±

    Sarah quirked her head to the side when she noticed a pained look cross Enid¡¯s face. She knew the hard seeming woman had a heart somewhere in her what confused Sarah was why Enid cared about the plight of a random Japanese soldier.

    ¡°If you take that statement to heart you will be better for it, Sarah.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  The elevator dinged a few moments later.  It opened into a hallway which led to a gathering place of sorts.  It was a wide-open space with beautiful artwork.  Paintings, statues.  Strangely there were no seats.  It occurred to Sarah that vampires wouldn¡¯t require such things as they never grew physically tired, nor would the suffer for sore backs or feet.  Sarah wasn¡¯t much of an art enthusiast but even she had to admit the beauty of the place.

    Sarah¡¯s arrival with Andrew had not gone unnoticed by those in attendance but none approached her directly, so she was able to enjoy the art in peace while Andrew moved off to make a report to someone.  Her vampiric senses allowed her to see the individual brush strokes.  Small imperfections in the statuary.  Somehow these things added to the overall appeal.  She understood after the first painting why vampires would surround themselves in such things.  They above anyone else could appreciate the beauty they offered.

    Sarah mused some in the room may have been alive when the sixteenth century portrait she was looking at was painted.  Sarah was intrigued by the pale woman in the painting.  Who was she?  Such care was taken in the painting, yet, she could see the painter had made the woman look¡­ cold and heartless.  She pondered if the artist had survived his work if the woman was as she appeared in it.  Then she wondered if Enid knew her.  There was a spark of recognition which made it all the more infuriating.

    Sarah was pulled back to the room around her when she heard someone speak beside her.  She glanced to the side.  It was a tall man with an immaculately trimmed black beard and long black hair which was tied back in a ponytail.  He was somewhere in his thirties she was sure¡­ at least appeared that way, in a room full of immortal vampires he could have been ten thousand years old.  No, his green eyes were too kind for that.  He was dressed in an expensive black suit, blood red shirt with the top button unbuttoned.  No tie.  He had his hands folded behind his back.  He repeated himself for her benefit.

    ¡°I often get lost in the art myself.  The bloody baroness is one of my favorites.  A rare mortal who had a blood lust that rivaled our own.¡±

    Sarah immediately knew who the subject of the portrait was.  Elizabeth Bathroy, but this wasn¡¯t the portrait she¡¯d seen depicting her on the internet.  This was different.  Less abstract, more as if the woman sat for it.

    ¡°Then this isn¡¯t real right?¡±

    The man smiled.

    ¡°Of course it is, I rescued it from her home shortly before the mortals burned the rest.¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°This is yours?¡±

    The man chuckled.

    ¡°I daresay it is all of ours.  Art shouldn¡¯t be owned; It should be appreciated by all.  Of course, some art would cause undesirable questions, hence it ends up in places like this, where it can be truly appreciated.¡±

    Sarah looked back to the painting admiring its craftsmanship in a way no mortal could.

    ¡°Did you know her?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  She courted many of our kind¡­my kind in her quest for immortality.  None of us were foolish enough to risk our lives on the chance she would change once she was turned.  I have my doubts any in the room were directly responsible for so many deaths as her.  No, she would have killed so many it would have drawn attention to whomever brought her across.  A Seer even investigated her on suspicion of vampirism, before the mortals caught wind of her doings.¡±

    ¡°You call them Seers, why do others call them Reapers?¡±

    He smiled.

    ¡°A misunderstanding of the task they have been given.  The young see them as Baba Yaga, a story they are told to frighten them into behaving.  That if they break the laws, one will come and snatch them in the night and devour their blood.  Their progenitor being who she was, I suppose the reputation is warranted.  Enid Aurelius did not bode any breach of the law and she punished it most harshly.¡±

    ¡°You knew Enid?¡±

    He smiled.

    ¡°Of course.  She was¡­ a dear friend, if she had such things.¡±

    ¡°I thought she didn¡¯t like¡­ Pugment¡­  vampires like you.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you have heard the term.  I feared you had been given a slanted view from the council. I am sad to see I was correct.  You are also correct; Enid did not appreciate my kind.  However, a rare few of us earned her respect.  Not an easy feat.  The world is lesser for her loss.  I wonder what kind of Empress she would have made in this new world we find ourselves in.  Her daughter does a passable job, but she lacks the conviction of her mother.  Enid was very decisive.  She could think on her feet.  With her daughter its always the council, or meetings and investigations.  Sometimes swift action is required.¡±

    ¡°Maybe she is just that old.¡±

    ¡°I predate our lovely Empress, and I still understand the need for swift and decisive action when it is required.¡±

    Sarah offered her hand he took it and shook it firmly.

    ¡°I am Sarah, the Lord invited me tonight, I¡¯m not really¡­ a vampire.¡±

    The man smiled.

    ¡°I am Lord Vlad Dracul.  It is I who extended your invitation.  I just absolutely had to meet the teenage girl who so eloquently accused a major press outlet of being in collusion with terrorists to silence their unfortunate questions.¡±

    Sarah would be blushing if she physically felt she could.

    ¡°I was not myself that night.¡±

    Vlad smiled.

    ¡°Oh, on the contrary, I believe you were your true self in that moment.  Vampirism brings out the best and worst of us.  It heightens everything, even emotions if we allow it.  No, you are very intelligent and you never back down from a fight.  It showed in your words.¡±

    ¡°I am normally not that rude, Lord Dracul.¡±

    ¡°Vlad, please.  And never apologize for defending yourself.  A well-spoken young woman who stands up for herself should be considered strong, not rude.  Everything you said was valid.  Likely unfounded, but you asked them as opposed to outright accusing.  I saw that and pondered if I had wasted Abby¡¯s time sending her to help you.  Your words were pure genius.  You deflected accusations without denying them, you gave the rest of the press pause before they asked their so-called hard questions.  Words are weapons, my young friend.  They can cut as surely as a blade. And no blade cuts as deeply as the proper word at the proper time.  Though a blade can wound and kill.  Words can destroy someone, even an immortal vampire.  Words are our weapons of choice.  And should you choose to make this transition more permanent, I assure you, you would be a force to be reckoned with.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Feel free to avail yourself of the supplied beverages and enjoy the art.  Should you wish to speak more I am here.  Alas at the moment I must mingle further.¡±

    Sarah turned and looked at him directly.

    ¡°Sir, Vlad, do you know what Abby wants to see me about tonight?¡±

    He smiled.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I am not her keeper, just her employer.  You will need to find that out from her. Though I do believe I overheard her say something about an insurance policy.  I am interested to find out what intrigue she is up to.  She does keep immortality interesting.¡±

 Earth Prime - 2026 - Self Control is Important

    Sarah stood by the door of Abby¡¯s social media company.  It was in the same office building as the vampire gathering.  After enjoying the art and experiencing the vampire court she¡¯d made her way down here.  She wasn¡¯t sure what to expect.  She was nervous.  Of course as a vampire she could just make herself not nervous but that would run contrary to Enid¡¯s very clear instructions on using this form properly.  The difference was that the nerves were not crippling.  Her body could still act normally.  She pulled the door open and was greeted by a receptionist who motioned her towards a hallway.

    ¡°She¡¯s expecting you.  Down to the left, end of the hallway.  Corner office.¡±

    Sarah nodded and walked in that direction.  The office door was open, and Abby was behind her desk.  She looked up when she heard Sarah¡¯s muffled footsteps.  She smiled and motioned to one of the comfortable looking chairs in front of the desk.  Sarah sat down and crossed her legs.

    ¡°I love the dress, Sarah.  You look fantastic.  Back to being a vampire I see.¡±

    Sarah gave a small teenage style shrug.

    ¡°Better to be the diner then the dinner?¡±

    Abby smiled.

    ¡°Very eloquently put.  You¡¯re probably wondering why I asked you to stop by tonight.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°We need to keep you in the media.  Capitalize on your two viral videos.  Make you the hero people so desperately want.¡±

    Sarah shook her head slowly.

    ¡°No! That is the opposite of what I want.  I want this all to just fade away.¡±

    Abby put down her pen and slid the draft she was reviewing aside.  She interlaced her fingers and leaned forward.

    ¡°Sarah, the influence being exerted to keep you safe from MANA only extends so far.  If you have popular public support it will prevent MANA from acting against you openly.  Trust me, someone over at MANA is going to want to act against you.  So, I think publicity is in your best interest.  The Empress, the Council and your legal guardians agree.¡±

    Sarah frowned.  She was still a minor.  What she wanted didn¡¯t really matter in the grand scheme of things.  She understood it logically but damned if she liked it.

    ¡°I just¡­ I hate it.  I want to go to school, play soccer¡­¡±

    ¡°You can do all that.  You might have people ask for an autograph or what not but its no different than movie stars and other famous supers.  Supers deal with this sort of thing all the time.  MANA has an entire division for Superhero publicity.  Right now we¡¯re still in control of the narrative.  We need to keep you in the driver¡¯s seat.  Make the public want to know more about you.  See more of you.  You can even pretend to hate the publicity.  Resist the popularity publicly.  They¡¯ll eat that up.  You are so popular because you don¡¯t want to be popular.  Most powered individuals in your position would have already appeared on morning talk shows all over the world.  Been doing interviews with all the big press.  You¡¯ve been actively denying it.  People want a hero like you.  One who shuns the fame.  A high percentage of the positive comments on social media are extoling how you just sat down and went back to studying after dealing with the hijackers.  You didn¡¯t wave for the cameras.  You didn¡¯t demand recognition for your actions.  You¡¯re the girl next door.  They want to know everything about you.  But they admire that you¡¯re not using this to get the spotlight.  Kids want to see you on social media.  Adults admire your restraint.  They admire that you appear so clean cut.  The media have been trying to find skeletons in your closet and there are none.  Parents see you as a role model for their teenagers.  You stay out of trouble.  You¡¯re never looking at your phone in the photographs.¡±

    Sarah sighed and nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever you think is right.  If it isn¡¯t going away on its own I may as well benefit from it, even if it is just some security.¡±

    Abby smiled and nodded.

    ******

    Sarah was riding back to the Russian president¡¯s palace.  She was leaning her elbow on the arm rest of the rear passenger door.  Her silver eyes scanned the passing buildings.  She was dreading the next week now.  Abby was turning her vacation into one long social media extravaganza.  It would probably ruin her time with the Olympic hockey team.  She suddenly gulped hard remembering the kiss with Erik.  She realized that was probably going to bite her in the ass in the near future.  If she weren¡¯t currently a vampire she probably would be hyperventilating and be in the midst of a panic.  She was of course in the midst of a panic attack but there were no outward signs of her distress.  At least she could hide it from everyone else as a vampire.  It would be easy to just turn it off¡­  not feel the panic but Enid had been clear: Vampire form was alright so long as Sarah kept her emotions flowing.

    She reached down pulled out several bags of blood and started sucking them back.  She wasn¡¯t a nervous eater but perhaps Enid was?  As a vampire she always wanted blood.  Enid had also been right the speed, the strength, it had drained her reserves, so she wasn¡¯t not hungry.  This felt more like she was just keeping her fangs busy.  What had she been thinking?  Kissing Erik.  She hadn¡¯t.  Vlad was right if vampires chose to feel emotions they were enhanced too.  Even their lust.  It also explained what Amee and she did in the girls washroom at the mall.  She licked her lips once again as she remembered the arousal she tasted in Amee¡¯s blood.  Andrew glanced back at her in the rearview mirror.

    ¡°Hungry?¡±

    Sarah looked at the ten empty blood bags she¡¯d drained one after the other.

    ¡°Always? Uh¡­the speed¡­ and strength?  It used a lot.¡±

    Andrew nodded.

    ¡°Take it all if you need.  The Lord will restock it.  If you need more call me.¡±

    He offered a business card over his shoulder.

    ¡°Can¡¯t have you going hungry.¡±

    Sarah glanced at the fridge and closed her eyes briefly before tearing through the rest of the blood.  She wasn¡¯t sure how much she could hold as a vampire but apparently it was a lot.  Andrew chuckled.

    ¡°Looks like you decided to go big when you turned yourself.¡±

    Sarah stuffed the last blood bag into the trash and licked her lips before looking up at Andrew.  She noticed her fangs were still out in the mirror.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Most vampires are full after ten of those.  You just ate twenty and you look like you might want more.¡±

    Sarah nodded then quirked her head to the side.

    ¡°Is vampire blood more¡­better?¡±

    Andrew nodded.

    ¡°Yes, but it comes with its own set of problems.  I¡¯d avoid it at all costs.¡±

    Sarah nodded and looked down at the empty blood bags.  Truth be told she had never felt full as a vampire.  She wondered just how much she could drink.  She also pondered how she would get her hands on enough blood to test.  The car pulled up to the palace.  Andrew got out and opened her door.  He motioned to her chin.

    ¡°Missed some.¡±

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Sarah ran her finger along the spot he indicated and felt moistness.  She licked her finger off after swiping the blood up with it.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Anytime.  I¡¯ll let the Lord know you¡¯re in need.¡±

    Sarah nodded.

    ¡°Thank you for the ride.¡±

    Andrew chuckled.

    ¡°Thank you for stopping me from getting filled with silver.  Would have made for a very bad night.¡±

    Sarah waved and made her way up to the front door.  It swung open and one of the President¡¯s security detail motioned her inside.  Prin hurried to her room in an attempt to avoid Erik.  She was successful in so much that she didn¡¯t run into anyone besides security.  She closed her door and leaned against it.  She¡¯d be trying to catch her breath if she weren¡¯t currently a vampire.  After several minutes she pushed off the door and started getting changed into a long t-shirt.  She was just finishing cleaning the make-up off her face when she heard a knock at her door.

    Sarah pulled on her bath robe.  She was expecting it to be Kira trying to cover emergency changes to the schedule to accommodate the media extravaganza that Abby had planned.  Thus she had a fairly neutral expression on her pale face when she opened the door.  That changed quickly when she saw it was Erik.  She stepped back without a word.  Her guest walked inside.  He looked at Sarah with a bemused expression.  He rubbed the back of his neck.

    ¡°So¡­ earlier¡­¡±

    Sarah held up her hands defensively.

    ¡°Was one hundred percent a mistake on my part, sorry.¡±

    Erik closed the door behind him and turned towards her, he touched his lip where her fang had grazed it.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t feel like a mistake to me.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°It totally was.¡±

    He moved closer.  She could hear his rapid heartbeat and her fangs slid out without her meaning them too.  She saw the artery on the side of his neck.  She put her hand over her mouth.

    ¡°You know.  I¡¯m feeling kind of off¡­ maybe we should talk about this later?¡±

    Erik pressed closer.  It wasn¡¯t that Sarah didn¡¯t want to continue the kiss she started earlier.  It was more she was afraid she wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the blood flowing through his veins.

    ¡°Just one kiss, make sure the last one wasn¡¯t a fluke?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°No means, no mister.¡±

    Her protests were for naught.  She was more than strong enough to toss him off of her but she really didn¡¯t want to say no.  He pressed her against the wall by her bathroom and their lips met again.  Sarah returned the kiss passionately.  They rolled through the open bathroom door and Erik was the one pressed against the wall.  Sarah took control of the make out session and while his hands roamed down her back her slips moved down his cheek to his neck and she slide her fangs in.  Erik started to twitch as he went through all the stages of arousal and finally made a mess inside his jeans.  Sarah didn¡¯t stop, she was enthralled by the fresh blood.  Enid appeared in the mirror and started shouting at her.

    ¡°Stop! You¡¯re going to kill him.¡±

    Sarah didn¡¯t listen and kept going.  All that mattered was the blood.  It wasn¡¯t until she heard his heartbeat struggling to pump blood the precious little blood that remained that she stumbled back.  He slid to the ground.  He was unconscious from blood loss and would die very quickly.  Sarah didn¡¯t know how she knew that exactly.  She also knew he needed a blood transfusion immediately but that would be quite impossible.

    Sarah looked in the mirror and finally saw Enid¡¯s stern countenance staring back at her.  Blood was dripping down her chin.  It wasn¡¯t like Amee at all.  The blood had stopped.  With Erik it wasn¡¯t stopping, nor did Amee¡¯s blood run out.  Enid had her arms crossed.

    ¡°Bite your wrist and give him blood, quickly.  Or he¡¯ll die.¡±

    ¡°But¡­but won¡¯t that turn him?¡±

    ¡°Not if his heart¡¯s still beating.  Hurry.¡±

    Sarah bit her wrist near the artery and pressed against Erik¡¯s lips.  As the blood passed his lips and hit his tongue his eyes snapped open.  He started gulping down Sarah¡¯s blood desperately, as if he knew he was about to die.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him drink too much, it will make him¡­ unpredictable. Pull away now. Look in his eyes and force yourself on his mind.  Tell him to sleep.¡±

    Sarah yanked her wrist away.  Erik growled like an animal that just had its food ripped away.  Sarah grabbed his cheeks.  Erik who was much stronger than he had been struggled against her but failed.  Sarah met his gaze and said sleep as forcefully as she could.  Erik¡¯s eyes slipped shut and his nose started to bleed.  Sarah released his face and he slumped against the wall again.  Sarah looked at Enid.

    ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°Clean up the blood seems like the obvious answer.  You¡¯ll need to make him forget about the kiss¡­the blood.  All of it.  And next time be more careful kid.¡±

    Sarah grabbed Erik¡¯s arms and started dragging him towards the shower.

    ¡°It¡¯s all over his clothes.¡±

    Enid sighed heavily.

    ¡°Lets just get him undressed first, yea?  Clean off the blood.¡±

    The lights in the bathroom flickered.  A silvery vortex formed just in front of the doorway.  Sarah blinked at it and looked at Enid.  Enid shrugged.

    ¡°Fucked if I know kid.¡±

    Sarah started to drag Erik towards the shower faster.  Not so much to get him cleaned up more quickly, but to get him away from whatever the hell was happening.  The vortex stabilized at about six feet in diameter.  Sarah was in the process of lifting the unconscious Erik up to shove him into the shower when the lights flickered again.  The silhouette of a girl appeared.  Finally, it formed into a full-fledged teenage girl.  No, a teenage elf.  She was wearing black robes with silver trim and runes.  She was holding a staff made of black metal, capped with a platinum dragon wrapped around a crystal orb.  Sarah just stared at the ruby-eyed silver-haired elf-girl.  Erik¡¯s unconscious form was halfway into the shower.  Both covered in his blood.  Her response would have been a lot more panicked than it was if she weren¡¯t a vampire.

    ¡°Uh¡­ this is definitely not what it looks like.¡±

    The silver vortex rapidly shrunk and then vanished with a pop.  The elf-girl looked between Erik¡¯s unconscious form and Sarah.  Sarah was not expecting to understand a word that this fantasy creature spoke.  She was quite mistaken when the girl spoke with a very solid mid-western united states English accent.  The elf quirked an angled eyebrow as she spoke.

    ¡°You drank too much, fed him blood and now you¡¯re trying cover it up?  Starting with the getting rid of the blood step?¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°Uh¡­I guess it is exactly what it looks like then?¡±

    The elf snapped her fingers and the blood vanished from the pair.  Sarah jumped.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    The elf grinned.

    ¡°Just a little magic.  Do your vampire eye thing and send him on his way.  Jesus-whosit said you needed help with something.¡±

    Sarah shook Erik until he woke up, he was looking very much like he wanted to continue down the path they started on when they¡¯d kissed.  Sarah looked into his eyes.  Enid spoke from the mirror again.

    ¡°Erase both kisses.  Just tell him to walk back to his room and go to sleep.  And when he wakes all he¡¯ll remember is that he had a really good dream, involving you.¡±

    Sarah told Erik what Enid had told her to say.  She stepped back and so did the elf.  Erik walked right past them almost in a daze.  After the bedroom door closed Sarah¡¯s eyes swept towards the elf.

    ¡°You¡¯re Serena.¡±

    The elf smiled and curtsied.

    ¡°At your service, Sarah MacCloud.¡±

    Enid frowned and spoke from the mirror.

    ¡°Be careful with this one.  Somehow, she¡¯s like Seraph.¡±

    Sarah nodded her silver eyes scanned the elf for any signs of her actual intention.  The elf was unreadable to her.

    ¡°Umm, you¡¯re an elf.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re a girl who looks like a twelve-year-old boy.¡±

    Sarah narrowed her eyes.  Serena laughed.

    ¡°Come on Sarah, it¡¯s a joke.  What do you need?¡±

    Sarah looked at Enid who just shrugged again.

    ¡°Well, there is this friend of mine¡­  She misplaced her soul.  She needs it back so she can help me with a problem.  And uh¡­ I need to get to another dimension for a clone?¡±

    ¡°The woman in your head?¡±

    ¡°Yes?  You know about her?¡±

    Serena tapped her chin.

    ¡°This is going to be a quick pop in and fix things and pop out it seems.¡±

    Sarah looked at Enid again, but the red-headed woman was no longer in the mirror.

    ¡°You¡¯re like Seraph can¡¯t you just make a new body and move Enid there?¡±

    Serena blinked at Sarah.  She shook her head.

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am.  She lets me be so long as I follow her rules and that would break them. It would break them a lot.¡±

    ¡°But you can pull a soul out of wherever?  Go between dimensions?¡±

    ¡°Yep.  I¡¯m not altering reality for someone else.  Can do it a bit for me but not for say you.¡±

    Sarah motioned to herself.

    ¡°But the blood¡­¡±

    ¡°Magic.  Easy magic.  I¡¯m a Sorceress after all.  Well, a sorceress in training.  This next part¡­ that might get me in trouble, but I¡¯ll risk it.¡±

    Serena closed her eyes.  Sarah watched as reality rippled around them.  Literally the walls rippled.  Serena¡¯s form shifted.  Suddenly Sarah was staring at a black-haired teenage girl with bright blue eyes.  She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

    ¡°What did you just do?¡±

    ¡°Made myself fit.  A place for Enid when we succeed.¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that.  MANA will detect it¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, I wish them luck figuring out the epicenter.¡±

    ¡°But there was ripple¡­¡±

    Serena looked Sarah up and down.

    ¡°You saw that?  I guess you did.  Who am I?¡±

    Sarah looked at Serena in confusion.

    ¡°Serena?¡±

    ¡°Hmm you are immune.  Interesting.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°I changed reality so that I belong here.  I came here with you from Aurelius Academy, I can fly, have super strength.  I¡¯m tough.  The Russians are trying to entice both of us to stay here in Russia.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because otherwise how would we explain my presence here?¡±

    ¡°You mean we can¡¯t just go fix it and you can go home?¡±

    Serena shook her head.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not simple like that.¡±

    ¡°You just¡­changed the universe to suite your needs and it¡¯s not simple to get Maria¡¯s soul back?  What do we have to do?¡±

    Serena laughed.

    ¡°No silly.  I can change things for me, but I can¡¯t for others.  Seraph has strange rules.  Just believe me when I say, getting Maria¡¯s soul back isn¡¯t easy.  First, we have to figure out when it went missing, then we need to track it down.  It¡¯s been a while, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°Then just go with it hmm.  Fake it till you make it.  By the way, we¡¯re old friends.  Figure it¡¯d be easier that way.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but I don¡¯t know anything about you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get you filled in.  Right now, though, get some sleep.¡±

 Armageddon Event Russia... Times two?

    MANA HQ ¨C October 27, 2026 ¨C 11 pm

    Yvonne Smith was almost hyperventilating when she rushed into the president¡¯s office.  She blew past the personal assistant¡¯s attempts to stop her.  Yvonne was the lead analyst for super event detections.  The angry assistant trailed behind her.  The president was mid-conversation with six world leaders.  Yvonne didn¡¯t even notice.  Standing orders were clear on this.  Activate Armageddon Protocols in the sector the epicenter of the event then go directly to the President of EarthGov and provide the alert personally.  The president for his part looked rather put out by the woman who just burst into his policy meeting.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±

    Yvonne held up the printout she was clutching as if it would explain everything.  She was so out of breath she couldn¡¯t form words properly.  The president wasn¡¯t pleased.

    ¡°This has better be world-ending important.¡±

    His assistant snagged the paper as her eyes scanned it, she swallowed hard.

    ¡°Sir, there has been an Armageddon event.¡±

    The president stood up swiftly and held out his hand.  The assistant handed it over.  He read it and ran his hand through his salt and pepper black.  He looked at the conference attendees.  They were all staring at him wide-eyed.  He spoke calmly but quickly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll brief the entire world congress when I have details.  I need to go.¡±

    He disconnected the conference and looked at Yvonne who had finally caught her breath.

    ¡°You¡¯ve initiated Armageddon protocols?¡±

    ¡°No-¡±

    ¡°No?  What are they training you at the academy these days?  It is imperative we respond to the threat immediately.  I want bombers in the air, all our troops heading to the epicenter!¡±

    Yvonne went a bit pale.

    ¡°Sir, there was no epicenter.  It was everywhere, all at once.¡±

    Yvonne motioned to the printout.  The president fell into his seat.  Every single person who had sat in his seat had prayed it would not happen on their watch.  The last time this happened millions of people had died.  A divine being had made its presence felt.  The emergency phone rang and he picked it up wearily.  The voice on the other end of the line quietly informed him that someone or something had altered the fabric of the reality universe wide according to one of their ranking Archmages to what end could not be divined.  He rubbed his face with both hands as he hung up the phone.

    In the end the causality list for the event was listed as one:  Azima Okadigbo, Archmage, Active Mana Diviner.  Kenyan MANA Office.   Cause of death cerebral hemorrhage after casting a divination to investigate an Armageddon event.

    *****

    MANA HQ ¨C October 31, 2026 ¨C 6 pm

    Yvonne paced her rushed movement to the president¡¯s office this time.  She had no wish to show up out of breath again.  She clutched another piece of paper in her hand.  One that spelled out a second Armageddon event.  The assistant looked at Yvonne as she approached and didn¡¯t move to stop her as the hurried woman opened the President¡¯s door.  This time the president said nothing of the interruption and held out his hand.  Yvonne handed the printout to him.  His weary brown eyes scanned English sentences.  Yvonne cut off his coming questions.

    ¡°I have initiated Armageddon protocols in Moscow.  Power signature is a match.  But on a much smaller scale.¡±

    The president released the paper and it slowly floated to his desk.  He stared down at it.   The last five days had made him ponder the protocols they had in place for PL 21 events.  Full military and Super mobilization seemed inadequate somehow to something that could literally rewrite the universe.  What could they do?  With a snap of the being¡¯s fingers they could just make it so MANA never existed.  What was the point of antagonizing it.  The protocols had been written in the midst of World War 2.  They had been signed off on by President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill and Stalin.  They had not changed in over eighty years.  It was pure hubris to think they could hope to stop a being like that by force of arms.  He picked up the phone and called his Chief of Staff.

    ¡°Sally, see to it that Armageddon protocols are cancelled in Moscow.  Put the local Supers on alert and keep rapid response teams on stand-by.¡±

    She gave him an affirmative response.  He then hung up and glanced at Yvonne.

    ¡°You may go.  You did well.¡±

    Yvonne left the office quietly.  The president picked up his phone once again and dialed a number he swore he would never dial.  He closed his eyes before initiating the call.

    ¡°Hello, Eyre Aurelius speaking.¡±

    The president paused briefly before speaking.

    ¡°Hello Eyre, it¡¯s Hank.  I wanted your opinion on something.¡±

    Eyre¡¯s voice lacked the smugness Hank had expected when she responded.  When he¡¯d first taken office, she¡¯d called and congratulated him.  She offered any assistance he might want.  Hank was arrogant enough that he declined and told her that the time for people like her had passed.  He wasn¡¯t a fan of vampires.  Now here he was calling her and asking for advice.

    ¡°Of course, Hank.  Whatever you need.¡±

    ¡°You may not be aware but there had been two Armageddon events in the past week.  I am pondering if the protocols in place are useful, or even questioning if they might make things worse.  What is your opinion on them?¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Eyre paused for a few moments before responding.

    ¡°I think they are pointless, but they were forced on me, us, a being like that needs another being of equal power to counter them.  Anything less is just asking for trouble.  I tried to explain that to the world leaders at the time, but they ignored me.  I didn¡¯t hear anything about them so I¡¯m guessing you haven¡¯t sent out the Armageddon alert?¡±

    ¡°No.  It seemed inadequate.  But I feel like I should do something.¡±

    Eyre laughed softly.

    ¡°Sometimes the best thing you can do is wait and watch.  I would put a special team on it, observe and report.  Unless whatever it is does something destructive or obvious.  There is nothing to do.  Telling a divine being its bound by human laws seems like a terrible idea.  Like it did eighty years ago.¡±

    ¡°The world governments will be upset by that.¡±

    ¡°Hank, you have advisors, get them to put some spin on it.¡±

    ¡°How did you handle them before you had advisors?¡±

    ¡°I asked Isis for advice.  But failing that, just dazzle them with technobabble.  Tell them you made a tactical decision not to engage as you felt it was too dangerous to the world at large.  Tell them you are tracking it and so far, it has taken no aggressive actions.  Maybe insinuate that Armageddon protocols will start a fight humanity cannot win.¡±

    Hank let his breath out and relaxed.

    ¡°Thank you, Eyre.¡±

    ¡°Anytime Hank.  Good luck.¡±

    *****

    The Russian trip turned out far differently then Sarah had envisioned it.  Serena turned it from torture to somewhat fun.  She was somewhat capricious.  If Sarah was older and wiser she may have been a bit disturbed that someone who could literally blink and change reality to her whims was so random.  As it was Sarah was a teenage girl and loved every moment of it.  Serena also got Sarah through the worst of the PR campaign.  Apparently the strange being had done a stint as a child star in another universe.

    The pair were on a flight back to Munich.  Sarah was still coming down from the high of the two days she spent as an honorary member of the Russian Olympic women¡¯s hockey team and the Halloween ball.  She¡¯d never been to a masquerade ball before.  She had felt a bit like Cinderella that evening.  Serena had snapped her fingers and suddenly Sarah the pair looked like Disney princesses.  Sarah had never been a fan of the genre, preferring to watch sports movies and sports in general.  That night she didn¡¯t care the pair had stolen the hearts of many boys at that ball.

    They were flying first class and giggling with each other over the night before.  The stewardess who was older and much sterner than the one on Sarah¡¯s trip to the Russian capital.  She was not pleased with the ruckus.  She stopped by their seats and leaned down.

    ¡°Excuse me, young ladies.  Please keep it down, you¡¯re disturbing the rest of the passengers.¡±

    Sarah swallowed hard.  She pondered what Serena would do in response.  One never knew the seeming randomness of her companion.  The girl could just decide the flight attendant should no longer exist and make it so.  Serena just smiled politely.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry ma¡¯am, we¡¯re just excited about the trip.  We¡¯ll keep it down.¡±

    Sarah glanced at Serena.  She hadn¡¯t witnessed the girl with any authority figure that dared tell them to do anything.  She was slightly surprised Serena was so nice.  Even as a vampire Sarah would have been tempted to use her power of mental influence to tell the woman to move on.  Serena giggled softly as she looked at Sarah.

    ¡°What is that look for?¡±

    Sarah motioned to the flight attendant.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything to her.¡±

    Serena quirked her head to the side.

    ¡°Why would I?¡±

    ¡°She told you what to do.¡±

    Serena waved her hand dismissively.

    ¡°So?  She¡¯s just doing her job and we were being very loud.  Why didn¡¯t you do anything?¡±

    Sarah shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a vampire, I¡¯d get caught.¡±

    Serena shook her head.

    ¡°We¡¯re the same.  Sort of.  So, I¡¯ll tell you something my mother taught me: Just because you can do something, doesn¡¯t mean you should.  We have a lot of power; We should not abuse it.  Not because Seraph will just obliterate us, but because it¡¯s wrong.¡±

    ¡°What about ball last night?¡±

    ¡°What about it?¡±

    Sarah whispered harshly in response.

    ¡°You turned us into princesses!¡±

    ¡°No, I made us look like princesses, everyone assumed.  It didn¡¯t hurt anyone.¡±

    ¡°You probably gave MANA a heart attack.  I¡¯m surprised Moscow wasn¡¯t shut down.¡±

    ¡°Not my problem.  I¡¯m bound by Seraph¡¯s rules and my conscience not their laws.¡±

    ¡°Well, if we got stuck there because they were¡­¡±

    Sarah trailed off as she noticed for the first time Serena wasn¡¯t wearing a power limiter.  She pointed at the girl¡¯s ankle.  She kept whispering.

    ¡°Oh my God. You need a limiter!¡±

    Serena blushed slightly.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.  Do you have an extra?¡±

    Sarah blinked at her companion in disbelief.

    ¡°No!  Why would you think that?¡±

    Serena shrugged.

    ¡°You tend to blow them up I thought¡­¡±

    Serena snapped her fingers and a pink one that was identical to Sarah¡¯s appeared on her ankle.  Sarah looked at it with wide eyes.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just keep doing that.  MANA will detect it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to do it again to help you.  I honestly don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so worried about MANA.  You¡¯re like me.  Their laws don¡¯t apply to you.¡±

    ¡°It seems like they could kind of just shoot me.  The last time I was shot it really hurt, almost killed me.  They have lots of bullets.¡±

    ¡°So what?  You¡¯ll just make a new physical form.  They may as well be shooting your jacket.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    Serena shrugged in response.  Sarah sighed and decided to change the subject, she didn¡¯t want to risk someone overhearing the pair discussing MANA being beneath them.

    ¡°So, you never answered me, why an elf?¡±

    Serena blinked at Sarah¡¯s abrupt change of subject.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel like having a beard?¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    Serena frowned.

    ¡°I¡¯m immortal, you¡¯re immortal.  I made a universe based on my friend¡¯s fantasy world and decided to see how the elves, who are immortal dealt with it.¡±

    Sarah was interested now.

    ¡°Made a universe?¡±

    ¡°Yea sure.  I do it all the time.¡±

    Serena reached into her pocket and pulled out a black crystal sphere.  Sarah looked at her companion in disbelief.

    ¡°Just like that, poof you make a universe?¡±

    ¡°Well not a whole universe.  It¡¯s kind of just a pocket dimension.  Like not a full fledged one like this reality.  It kind of generates as it goes.  Like a procedurally generated video game?  I give it the initial parameters and it just runs off creating.¡±

    Sarah pointed at the black sphere.

    ¡°That¡¯s a universe?  Like a whole other reality.¡±

    Serena nodded holding the black sphere in her hand.

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Its not a real world though, its fake right?¡±

    Serena held up the sphere and offered it to Sarah.  Sarah held her hands back like it might burn her.

    ¡°No, its real enough.  I mean what is real anyway?  To the people who live inside it, it is real.  To me when I¡¯m there it¡¯s real.  Here just take it, pop in and see.¡±

    Sarah shook her head vigorously.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hold trillions of lives in my hand.¡±

    ¡°You already do, girlfriend.  Besides this is just a manifestation of the new universe.  It doesn¡¯t exist in the sphere.  It¡¯s just how I visualize it.¡±

    ¡°But the silver vortex thingy, no way everyone will see.¡±

    Serena laughed.

    ¡°No, you can just hold the stone and pop in mentally, take over someone similar to yourself and poke around.  Out here you¡¯ll be asleep for a bit.¡±

    ¡°How do I get out?¡±

    ¡°Just wake up.  It¡¯s easy and I can pull you out.  It¡¯s how I mess around when I¡¯m supposed to be at home.¡±

    ¡°It seems wrong taking someone over¡­¡±

    Sarah was always insatiably curious.  Her silver eyes refused to leave the black crystal sphere.  She reached out and took it in her hand.

    ¡°How do I do it?¡±

    ¡°Just decide you want to be inside.  Like I said, this is a physical aid.  Imagine there is an entire universe inside and that you want to be there instead of here.  Lay your head back and close your eyes.¡±

    Sarah closed her eyes.

    To be Continued¡­

 World X - Year of the Fox - 10826 AS

    When Sarah opened her eyes, she was standing in a massive gothic castle entryway. Curved staircases wrapped around either side of a black marble fountain that had a constant flow of red liquid. She recognized the smell immediately with her heightened senses. It was blood. She felt her fangs extend and the usual yearning. The usual arousal. For some reason, her blood and physical intimacy were linked when she was a vampire. If she stopped to think about it, what could be more intimate than drinking someone¡¯s blood?

    Sarah was oblivious to her surroundings besides the blood fountain slipped her fingers into it. The thick fluid was indeed blood. She lifted her finger to her mouth and licked it. As the coppery fluid crossed her tongue, she closed her eyes. Where the blood came from wasn¡¯t really a concern for her at the moment, just that it was fresh. Goblets were hooked into various nooks around the edge of the fountain. She picked one up and held it under one of the streams of blood. She took a large gulp of it and filled it yet again. After several more goblets full of blood, she placed it on the black marble of the fountain¡¯s base and licked her lips. She let her tongue slide along the bottom of her fangs. Whatever universe she had slipped into, her hostess was a vampire.

    She spun around in a slow circle and realized there were massive stained-glass windows that rose up the wall of the grand entrance. In the center was a representation of a noble looking man. He was silhouetted by blood red stained glass. To his left was a stained-glass representation of a pale looking woman holding aloft a sword, the flat of the blade touching the tip of her nose. To his right another woman this one held her hands up and lightning crackled between them. Outside the windows flashes of light indicated a brewing storm.

    Sarah looked down at her hands. They were slender and pale. The skin on her palm was smooth and uncalloused unlike her own hands in the world outside. Her nails were painted blood red. She looked down at her current body. It was slender, slightly shorter than her own. She lifted up a handful of her hair. It was black as the darkest night.

    ¡°Daughter, perhaps when you¡¯re done admiring yourself and drinking all our blood you might consider getting your armor on and taking your knights to deal with invading Paladins as I asked you to an hour ago? Our citizens are being indiscriminately slaughtered as I speak.¡±

    Sarah looked up to the source of the seductively dark voice. The man was beautiful, handsome wouldn¡¯t encompass him. The length of his dark hair rivaled her own. His features were exquisite. He wore a black button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up. Sarah had always been a sucker for exposed forearms and rolled up sleeves. She licked her fangs as she admired him. He inspected her with his striking eyes. The irises of which were blood red. She had only one concern beyond the blood, she had a feeling she couldn¡¯t just turn off vampirism here like she would in her real body.

    ¡°When is dawn?¡±

    He raised one of his beautiful black eyebrows.

    ¡°What kind of nonsense are you spewing? These are the Night Lands the Sun God dare not shine here. Go deal with the incursion. The High Council has decreed these invader¡¯s life forfeit. Once you¡¯ve dealt with the Paladins follow their trail back to Lands of Light and confirm this is not a prelude to another Crusade would you?¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t quite sure if dying here would kill her outside, so she decided to try to divert her host¡¯s father by pointing at the stained-glass depiction of the woman with lightning between her hands.

    ¡°Why not send her?¡±

    ¡°You would send your mother into battle? What has come over you? Does your God not decree as part of your faith to protect the innocent at all costs? Why do you delay when innocent farmers are being slaughtered?¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times. How does one protect innocents and survive by drinking blood alone? She suddenly realized she¡¯d also been asked to enter the Lands of Light, that sounded sunny. She looked up at the man again.

    ¡°I¡¯m a vampire, how would I survive the Lands of Light?¡±

    ¡°Are you unwell? First, you¡¯re drinking blood fresh from the fountain instead of depending on that ridiculous ring you wear. Now you forget you wear an amulet that protects you from the cursed sun?¡±

    ¡°Are innocents really dying? If this is a land of night¡­ how do people farm?¡±

    Sarah could hear a growing frustration in the man¡¯s voice as he spoke again.

    ¡°Light stones, how else? Are you quite done? Or would you like to ask more inane questions instead of performing the duty you swore too Lady Aurelia Eventide Bloodwake? You¡¯re acting like a child by the Unholy Gods, you¡¯re seven-hundred-year-old vampire lord!¡±

    The last bit definitely reminded Sarah of the way her mother would use her full name when she¡¯d messed up.

    ¡°Where are the Paladins?¡±

    He motioned towards the grand doors.

    ¡°The scouting reports are with Iona, perhaps you should listen when I speak to you.¡±

    He spun around and folded his hands behind his back. He moved deeper into the interior of the keep. The disappointment in his voice hit Sarah like a punch in the gut. She truly didn¡¯t know him from Adam, but she¡¯d heard it in adults voices before. She moved towards the grand doors and pushed her way outside.

    Sarah was greeted by a force of twenty armored soldiers riding black horses. The horses possessed blood red eyes. The soldiers were armed with a bow and a sword each. Some were quite human looking. Others looked like vicious flesh-eating monsters. One was a skeleton. The woman at their head was pale and blonde, also very beautiful. She looked over Sarah¡¯s host¡¯s body with judgmental blue eyes.

    ¡°We have been waiting for the better part of an hour my lady, will you be joining us anytime soon?¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t really sure how to respond.

    ¡°Sure, I guess.¡±

    The woman frowned.

    ¡°Praise be to Madb, Lady Aurelia is going to join us, she guesses.¡±

    The troops laughed. Sarah looked around. It would seem she needed to get some armor and a horse. Probably a weapon of some description. Where any of that might be, evaded her. Sarah decided to bite the bullet so to speak and motioned the blonde woman forward. The woman hopped off the horse. Her heavy silvery plate armor clanked. She patted the horse¡¯s flank and approached Sarah with her helm tucked under her arm. She lowered her voice.

    ¡°What is it my Lady?¡±

    ¡°I seem to have forgotten where I left my sword and armor.¡±

    The woman¡¯s blonde eyebrow arched.

    ¡°Are you quite alright? An hour ago, you were ordering us to prepare to leave immediately, now you can¡¯t remember where your armor is? By Madb you¡¯re worrying me.¡±

    Sarah was about to ask who Madb was but then bit her lip. She¡¯d heard the name before. It was a pagan goddess as far as she knew. She¡¯d heard her grandmother invoke the name when she was casting a spell once.

    ¡°I drank from the fountain.¡±

    The woman frowned.

    ¡°You¡¯d better get right with Madb before we leave. Drinking blood! What were you thinking? Did you forget your vows as well?¡±

    ¡°I had a moment of weakness.¡±

    The woman pointed towards a set of doors by the stables.

    ¡°Best pray for forgiveness old friend. Your armor is in your personal armory as it always is, I suggest you leave the holy blade in its sheath for this. Madb would not look kindly at it shedding the blood of her holy order. Even if they are murdering innocent people.¡±

    ¡°Wait, if we¡¯re followers of Madb¡­ why are her Paladins attacking us?¡±

    ¡°Because unlike you and I they are blind fanatics paving the road of good intentions with the blood of anyone they deem tainted. As usual. I just hope it¡¯s not another Crusade. Too many good people died on both sides. The high priest in Stormlund needs to take his head out of his bloody arse.¡±

    Sarah turned to head towards the armory but was held back when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°You are not yourself, my lady. Perhaps you should sit this one out.¡±

    Sarah wanted to agree very badly. Then it hit her that if not for her arrival here the troops would have left half an hour ago and now more people would be hurt. The least she could do was go see what was going on. As a vampire there wasn¡¯t much that could do permanent harm after all. She knew she had access to Enid¡¯s fighting skills, most of which were with primitive weapons.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Which direction are they?¡±

    The woman pointed towards the gate.

    ¡°Due north, My Lady.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll catch up. Go ahead. We can¡¯t let the farmers continue to suffer.¡±

    The woman nodded. She hopped on her horse with no effort. Sarah was a bit shocked. But then it dawned on her she heard no heartbeat from the woman. She pondered if the blonde woman might be a vampire as well. Sarah realized fully half the group she was looking at lacked heartbeats of any sort. The blonde woman saluted to Sarah before motioning the squad of knights forward. They galloped over the drawbridge and into the darkness beyond.

    When Sarah grasped the handle of the armory door there was a small shimmer and it opened for her. Inside was far bigger than the outside. Like the packs she¡¯d seen in Enid¡¯s memories. One of the long walls was covered in wall hangers for weapons. Swords of all shapes and sizes. Some glowed others dripped green fluid. All looked quite deadly. An armor rank held a suit of gleaming silver plates. Leaning against the legs of the armor was a round shield. The symbology on the front was a rising sun backed by an open palm. Another wall held lances. The final wall held several bows.

    She stood in front of the armor and held out her hand to grab the first piece. She was shocked to find it shimmered out of existence and encased her. It was lighter than she expected. Her movement wasn¡¯t so restricted as it would appear it would be. She leaned down and picked up the shield. She slipped it over her shoulder onto a hook. The years of wearing armor in Rome experienced by Enid had transferred to Sarah in their mixing of their minds so this felt quite natural to her. She looked over the swords. She drew the most glorious from its sheath. The silvery blade reflected the torch light. She saw Enid¡¯s green eyes appear in it.

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    ¡°So, off to slay a dragon then?¡±

    Sarah wrinkled her nose.

    ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t here, while I was here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m everywhere you are. This one is a good sword, well balanced, but it is likely the holy blade you were warned against using. I¡¯d take it but make sure to grab another.¡±

    ¡°And how do I know which to bring?¡±

    ¡°You want fire? You want acid? Lightning? That black one looks fairly dangerous.¡±

    Sarah reached for the black sword. It seemed familiar in some fashion.

    ¡°Looks like Bloodseeker. Though it¡¯s much better crafted. I would guess it serves a similar function, draining blood?¡±

    ¡°Well, if I¡¯m supposed to be a Paladin would I really use a blood drinking sword?¡±

    ¡°Well, whatever you¡¯re going to choose you best do it quickly or you might miss the battle.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Why are you so eager to get me into battle? Aren¡¯t I just a child?¡±

    ¡°You fancy yourself a hero, now is your chance.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t Paladins like¡­ good people?¡±

    Enid laughed.

    ¡°This lot sounds like the witch hunters in our Middle Ages. I believe you¡¯ve found yourself in the middle of a war between two sides of a church.¡±

    Sarah laid her gauntleted hand on each blade in turn. She felt drawn to the fire sword so she pulled that from the wall. And slipped the sheath over her shoulder which caused the sword to slip under the shield hook and lay across her back diagonally. The holy sword she grabbed with the intent to hook it up to her saddle. Thanks to Enid she also knew how to ride a war horse into battle. She went to the stables and found a jet-black horse with a single spiral horn rising from its forehead.

    ¡°She has a freaking unicorn?¡±

    The unicorn approached and nuzzled her. Its glowing purple eyes looked her up and down. Sarah strapped the holy sword to the saddle. She lept onto the unicorn¡¯s back. Her vampiric strength made the plate armor seem like it weighed nothing. She leaned forward.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go save some farmers?¡±

    The strange unicorn reared slightly and launched itself forward in a hard gallop. As she crossed the drawbridge she looked down. She realized it was a bad idea when she noticed it seemed to be a bottomless chasm. Her mount surged along the road at a speed that rivaled the motorized vehicles she was used to. Sarah laughed joyfully as the wind rushed through her hair. She could feel Enid¡¯s own joy as the unicorn galloped so quickly it seemed to hover above the ground.

    Her joy quickly turned to horror when she found herself in the smoldering remains of a small farming village. Charred bodies lay where they fell. Men, women, children. None were spared the wrath of their attackers. She saw the squad of knights up ahead. Most were still mounted. A quarter of their number and their blonde leader were off their horses and inspecting the remnants. Even the fields had not been spared the torch. Nothing was alive save the newly arrived knights who were not among the undead. The blonde woman spoke again.

    ¡°They have never dared come this close to the keep.¡±

    All eyes turned toward one of the knights when she called out. Sarah watched skeletal knight with flaming red eyes drag a rather vicious-looking creature by the back of its leather armor. Its skin was grey, and its teeth had formed into rows of razor-sharp fangs reminiscent of a shark. Its eyes were glazed over and a ghostly pale blue color.

    ¡°Lady Iona, I found this sniveling coward hiding in a freshly dug grave.¡±

    The knight threw the ghastly looking man at the blonde woman¡¯s feet. Sarah nodded slightly, so that was the Iona her hostess¡¯s father had mentioned. It made sense. Iona walked around the loathsome ghoul. Her eyes had grown cold and angry.

    ¡°You sup on the High Lord Morgan¡¯s provisions of flesh in exchange for service as a guardian to his people and this is how you serve them? Hiding in the earth while they burn? It is by his grace you have avoided the most holy blade of Lady Aurelia.¡±

    The groveling thing shielded its face with its clawed hands as it spoke.

    ¡°Please my lady, there were too many. What is one wretch such as me to do against a horde of holy warriors wielding the light?¡±

    Iona glanced up too Sarah. Sarah didn¡¯t respond she just stared down at the pathetic creature. It must have once been a man, but all vestiges of his former life were long gone. She¡¯d never looked upon one so loathsome before. If she were human, the shreds of flesh and bone that clung to its teeth would have turned her stomach. Iona patted the flank of her majestic warhorse. She looked back at him.

    ¡°You do your duty worm. You know the punishment for desertion. You hid from the blades of those paladins only to face justice at the blade of another.¡±

    With no warning and in one swift motion she drew a sword from the sheath on side of her saddle and swept it through the ghoul¡¯s neck. There was a flash of pure holy light and his body disintegrated. Sarah heard Iona whisper a prayer.

    ¡°May he find peace in Madb¡¯s light.¡±

    Iona slipped her sword back into the scabbard and pulled herself onto the horse. She motioned to one of the feral looking undead that served among her knights.

    ¡°Take two men find their trail.¡±

    Iona looked too Sarah.

    ¡°Any other orders My Lady?¡±

    Sarah shook her head. Her eyes drifted over the remains of the villagers, stopping on a pair of small bodies. In her mind they could have been her brothers. This was no game. No fake universe. It felt just as real as her own. She realized all of these casualties were her fault for showing up here. Had she not made this choice the real Lady Aurelia might have prevented their deaths. She looked at Iona.

    ¡°We need to stop them.¡±

    Iona nodded.

    ¡°We will my Lady, we will. The embers are still orange. They have not gotten far.¡±

    Sarah looked away from the smoldering corpses. Her eyes drifted to the sky. No stars, no moon graced the darkness above them. Just a soft purple glow. She looked at the trees in the distance and realized that the leaves were not green but had a slight purple hue. Above the burning fields globes of light floated. Everything was so strange and new. The suffering of innocents in a pointless holy war was all too old too her. Iona¡¯s blood hounds emerged from the woods to the east and motioned towards the group. Iona lifted her hand and motioned towards the feral knights. Sarah followed. When they reached the trackers, Iona spoke to them quietly. Sarah¡¯s supernatural hearing picked up the entire conversation as if she were standing by them.

    ¡°My Lady, they have set up camp in a clearing. There are fifty of them. They have a watch. Only a few wear the holy order¡¯s crest.¡±

    Iona nodded and motioned to the one knight who wore no armor. Sarah hadn¡¯t seen her face it had been covered by a deep hood. Her gloved hands looked delicate enough. The woman moved forward.

    ¡°My lady?¡±

    ¡°Dame Sutra, summon the wraiths, order them to deal with the lay people. Then set up with the archers. Do what you do best.¡±

    She looked at the rest of the knights.

    ¡°Undead deal with the lay people. Lady Aurelia, the living and I will deal with the priests and paladins.¡±

    Iona glanced at Sarah. Sarah nodded in response. She saw no reason to stick her very inexperienced nose into the planning of the attack.

    Sarah¡¯s eyes were drawn to the slight woman who wore no armor. She had hopped off her horse and pulled her hood back. Horns spiraled up from her head. Curly black hair hung over them and a pair of pointed ears. Her skin was a deep red color. Boney ridges replaced eyebrows and her fingernails pitch black and ended in vicious points. She reached out her hands and started to weave a pattern in the air. Her red eyes turned into black pools and when she spoke the words, they took on an echoing quality. Finally, she spread her hands and a pulse of energy flowed over Sarah. She¡¯d seen magic before, of course she was going to a school with mages. It was never like this, there was darkness to this.

    If someone had asked Sarah what happened next, she would have responded with the most metal thing she¡¯d ever seen. Purple rifts appeared around the demonic looking woman. Out of them ripped several cloaked figures. Each in a deep hood and holding a scythe. The woman pointed in the direction of the camp and spoke in a strange language. Sarah understood it as she understood all languages, the command was simple.

    ¡°Devour them all.¡±

    The wraiths swept through the woods seeming to pass through the trees if they didn¡¯t exist. Sutra pulled herself onto her horse and galloped further down the road. The archers trailed her. Iona pulled back her reigns and the knights began to gallop towards the camp of the Holy Order. As they approached the sound of horrified screams rose up.

    Sarah watched as one of the wraiths reached into a man¡¯s chest. The man¡¯s body twitched as all the vitality ripped from his body. When his body fell a new wraith rose from the remains. The scene was being repeated all over that half of the camp. She saw a woman hold up a symbol and heard her pray to Madb to deliver them. A wave of holy light pulsed from the woman and several wraiths were disintegrated. The light could not save the woman from the vicious black arrow that struck her in the throat. Merciful death never came for her as the wraiths swarmed her. And what remained of her soul joined their rampage.

    Sarah heard the telltale chant of arcane magic coming from up ahead. She saw balls of fire appear in the sky. She did what she had been trained to do at Aurelius Academy. She cast a shield spell over herself and the knights that surrounded her. The massive meteors of fire stuck it fruitlessly. Iona looked at her with wide eyes. The man began to chant again and an arrow struck him in his chest interrupting whatever he was trying.

    Iona overcame her shock at seeing her Lady cast an arcane spell and drove her troops forward. The lances of the knights struck home on several targets. The mage broke the arrow¡¯s shaft off and began to chant again. Sarah weaved her own hands and chanted a counter spell. She wasn¡¯t sure it would work here like it did on Earth 3. To her relief the power the mage was channeling blew up in his face. While he was recovering, she chanted a paralysis spell. He tried to counter but she was quicker, and he froze in place. In truth that was the breadth of her spellcasting prowess. The first years weren¡¯t allowed to learn destructive forms of magic. And so far, they¡¯d learned a light spell, a shielding spell, counter spell and paralysis.

    One of the surviving armored paladins charged at her. She blocked the blow with her bracer. She hadn¡¯t killed anyone yet and was trying to keep it that way. The paladin wasn¡¯t going to make it easy for her to keep to that. She drew her sword and parried another blow. She blocked another and another. He was inexperienced and telegraphed his attacks. She could have ended him several times but was staying defensive. Her mount wasn¡¯t so patient and when her opponent was off balance, he found himself skewered through the neck by the spiral horn. The unicorn neighed in annoyance. The paladin fell to the ground holding his hands over the wound trying fruitlessly to staunch the flow of blood. He could not heal it himself because he could not speak. Sarah wanted to save him but in truth she was also tempted to finish him off by draining all of his remaining blood. She licked her fangs but pulled the unicorn away. Her host had sworn off drinking blood and she¡¯d respect that though it felt like a form of masochism to Sarah.

    The battle was over quickly. The paladins and their attached forces had been no match for the ferocity of the undead and their summoned wraith allies. The wraiths had vanished into the woods leaving many drained corpses in their wake. The rest were dead or dying by blade or arrow. A few were just charred remains from lightning strikes that had seemingly come out of nowhere. The only living member of the invaders was the mage. Sarah¡¯s paralysis spell had spared him. Though he would die soon if the wound in his chest were not tended.

    Iona and Sarah stood over his motionless form. Sarah knew from experience he was well aware of everything going on around him. She imagined the horror he must be feeling being surrounded by the enemy. She also knew she could release him at any moment with a wave of her hand and a few Latin words. Iona looked at Sarah.

    ¡°My Lady, what would you like to do with him.¡±

    ¡°Heal him.¡±

    ¡°He is a murderer, My Lady, are you sure? Death now would be the most merciful option. Your father¡¯s methods¡­¡±

    Sarah frowned slightly. She heard Enid speak.

    ¡°He is also the only one who can tell you if this is just advanced recon for a bigger attack.¡±

    Sarah pursed her lips and decided to listen to Enid¡¯s wisdom. She spoke to Iona.

    ¡°He is the only one who can tell us if there are more coming.¡±

    Iona stood up straight.

    ¡°What do you mean? We can just have Sutra to question the corpses. He is a mage, letting him live is dangerous.¡±

    Sarah looked down at the Mage.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do both.¡±

    *****

    Sarah never got to see the end results of her choice as she was awoken suddenly by Serena¡¯s hand on her forearm. The flight attendant they had annoyed was leaning down.

    ¡°We¡¯re about to land, please buckle up.¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times readjusting to her actual reality and pulled the belt over her waist and it clicked. She looked at Serena and offered the black sphere to her. She whispered.

    ¡°That was intense.¡±

    Serena gave a half smile.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call the Hidden Isles intense. They were kind of quiet.¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t on the Hidden Isles. It was a kingdom of the undead. Paladins were attacking, but I was a paladin. It was so surreal. I tasted and felt everything as if I was there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you were there Sarah, not in body, but in mind you were there. It was your reality. Sounds like the Night lands. Strange, I¡¯ve only ever been to the Hidden Isles.¡±

    ¡°I think its because I identify¡­or Enid identifies as a vampire so much it pulled me into one. She was beautiful. I¡¯m sort of jealous.¡±

    Serena laughed softly.

    ¡°Maybe one day you can enter as you. Its always more fun that way.¡±

    ¡°Nope, no way. You might have been a Disney princess, but I was in a nightmare.¡±

    ¡°Were you a princess?¡±

    Sarah pondered that for a few minutes.

    ¡°I suppose I was. But I don¡¯t think Disney would make a movie about a vampire princess. The blood fountain and flesh-eating knights might turn off their target audience.¡±

 Earth 3- 2026 - The Five Headed Monster

    It was night by the time Sarah and Serena arrived in Munich.  Sarah was still in a bit of a daze after her trip to the strange fantasy world inside the black stone globe.  It had been as real as any Earth she¡¯d been on.  Only it hadn¡¯t been an Earth of any description.  The trees were closer to those found on Earth 3, but they were still different.  Serena nudged Sarah with her elbow.

    ¡°What did you do to make them so mad at you?¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.  Sarah followed her companion¡¯s gaze towards two very obvious superpowered MANA agents.  One was floating with a flickering green flame surrounding her.  The two MANA agents were glaring at her.  However, neither moved to stop her and Serena from leaving the offboarding area.  Further into the airport more MANA agents were by the border gates.  Those ones weren¡¯t paying any attention to the two unassuming Aurelius Academy students and were more focused on the adults.  The border officer for Earth Gov glanced over Sarah¡¯s passport then glanced at her.  Sarah was using her American Passport.  Mostly because it was the first one, she grabbed.

    ¡°I hope your flight here was less eventful than the run to Russia.¡±

    Sarah gave a small nervous laugh; Truth was she basically missed this flight because of her trip into the fantasy world.

    ¡°Seemed to be, sir.¡±

    He returned her passport.

    ¡°Have a good evening, and good luck with the rest of your semester.¡±

    Sarah nodded and slipped her passport into the pouch of her backpack.  Serena had no trouble navigating border security either.  Of course, she didn¡¯t Sarah mused.  The girl literally blinked her eyes, and she was suddenly part of this world.  Serena¡¯s passport was also American.  Likely because, from Sarah¡¯s understanding the PL 21 was originally born in the US.  Serena hurried to catch up to Sarah.

    ¡°So, you never answered me, why are those supers so annoyed at you?¡±

    Sarah sighed.

    ¡°You know all that press stuff I had to do in Russia?¡±

    Serena nodded.

    ¡°Yea.  Kind of annoyed you, didn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s the price I had to pay for saving my last plane from a terrorist attack.  Very publicly with superpowers that I¡¯m not allowed to use off campus.  But I was a vampire at the time so like they couldn¡¯t really do anything to me because vampire powers are natural?  I¡¯m not sure why but apparently it is the law.  So, MANA is mad, I found a loophole?  I donno.  Anyway, they are mad at me.¡±

    Serena laughed softly.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be bound by their laws.  You¡¯re not one of them.  You look it, but you aren¡¯t.  I¡¯m here because I was asked to be here, but you¡¯re capable of everything I am.  These mortals¡­ they¡¯re stuck in their thin slice of reality.  We exist everywhere.  We¡¯re goddesses.  Okay we¡¯re adolescent goddesses, but we¡¯re still goddesses.  We can create universes; We can end universes.  We have our own laws.  I have my own code.  But these human and vampire laws are beneath us.¡±

    Serena paused briefly then glanced up at Sarah.

    ¡°What is an Armageddon Event?¡±

    Sarah blinked at Serena¡¯s last few words.

    ¡°Why? I have no idea, shouldn¡¯t you know?  Aren¡¯t you all-knowing?¡±

    Serena laughed.

    ¡°No, I am most definitely not all-knowing.  I¡¯m not even sure I¡¯m all-powerful.  I just heard one of the Agents talking about it.¡±

    ¡°Probably some code for an imminent attack.  I¡¯ve only ever seen this many MANA agents in one spot twice.  Once when they were coming to arrest me before getting called off and the second to deal with a 20-foot-tall guy in power armor.¡±

    Serena shrugged.

    ¡°Must not be important then.¡±

    The pair picked up their luggage and made their way out of the airport terminal.  Sarah noticed a familiar face in the crowd and waved.  Cindie was apparently their protection today.  Cindie gathered up the pair¡¯s luggage and put it in the car.  Serena inspected the vampire closely but said nothing.  Cindie sat in the front seat.  Their driver was a MANA agent Sarah did not recognize.  He looked fairly clean cut and wore a pair of tinted glasses.  A news story came on about the unexplained presence of MANA agents at Munich International Airport.  This prompted the driver to glance over his shoulder when they were stopped at a red light.

    ¡°You girls didn¡¯t see anything strange on the flight from Russia, did you?¡±

    Sarah looked at Serena.  Serena shrugged and spoke.

    ¡°No sorry.  And Sarah was out cold and snoring so loudly the flight attendant was glaring at us.¡±

    Sarah scowled at Serena.  The driver and Cindie both laughed.  Sarah calmed down quickly.  She realized Serena¡¯s bit of humor had distracted the MANA agent from questioning them further.

    Sarah looked out the window and watched the futuristic city pass them by.  They drove through the neighborhood where she had battled Goliath.  One could scarcely tell there had been a battle at all.  Earth Prime had become adept at sweeping away the mess supers made.  Even the trees looked the same as they had before she¡¯d turned them into weapons.  Sarah¡¯s eyes went wide, and she stiffened. She had just realized she was about to have to face the Headmistress, Carly, and Amee.  The last was the one she feared the most.  Serena nudged her.

    ¡°Quarter for your thoughts?¡±

    Sarah blinked a few times.

    ¡°I thought it was a penny?¡±

    Serena shrugged.

    ¡°Inflation.  What¡¯s up you looked like you were about to throw up?¡±

    Sarah blushed.

    ¡°I just realized how much trouble I¡¯m in.  And¡­¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes drifted to the driver and Cindie who seemed unaware of the pair of girls in the back of the car at present.  Serena waved at them dismissively.

    ¡°Never mind them, they see us giggling and talking about how cute the President¡¯s son was.  What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°I made out with my best friend, and I bit her.  It was umm really good, but Enid was probably the reason.  Apparently, they were married. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to say to her.  And the Headmistress is going to kill me.  And Carly is going to be so mad at me.¡±

    Serena laughed.

    ¡°Whatever happens will happen.  You can¡¯t change it by worrying about it.  Well, I mean you totally can just make it so it never happened but that would be cheating.¡±

    Sarah quirked her head to the side.

    ¡°How do I make it, so it never happened?¡±

    Serena held up her hands.

    ¡°Slow down.  We don¡¯t use our powers like that.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t use your powers like that.  I totally will.¡±

    Serena sighed and put her hand on Sarah¡¯s thigh.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just go messing with people¡¯s minds and bending reality because you¡¯re in an uncomfortable social situation.  Its uncool and it¡¯s the kind of thing that gets you into trouble with the big girl.¡±

    ¡°Big girl?¡±

    ¡°Seraph.  You want to make yourself rich go ahead.  You want to make yourself fit into a world you¡¯re not from, that¡¯s fine too.  The minute you start rewriting the reality of a universe because you screwed up that is a big no-no.  That¡¯s when she gets the stick out.  Trust me, you do not want that!¡±

    ¡°But you made yourself fit that means you rewrote everyone¡¯s memories!¡±

    ¡°No, I changed one small thing in this entire universe.  I was born.  That¡¯s it.  What you¡¯re contemplating is a whole other level.  So, you make it, so you didn¡¯t interfere with the terrorists on your plane, then who did?  You make it so the kiss between you and Amee never existed, now who did you bite to get that blood?  Each change causes a chain-reaction.  No matter how minor the change.  My change was small.  I had a boring life.  Everything was normal.  I picked a family who died who had a daughter.  The difference is that daughter was me and I survived because I¡¯m a super.  You went viral with your whole plane saving thing, right?  How many people will that affect?  What will it change in their lives?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Oh, she says.  Do you understand?  It doesn¡¯t matter how much your screw ups suck you cannot change the natural course of a universe¡¯s history like that.  One small change here and there won¡¯t seem to mean much but it¡¯s a slippery slope and then suddenly you realize since no choice means anything, nothing means anything and suddenly you¡¯re staring at an everything bagel and pondering why you even exist at all.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a movie, never mind.  Look, your decisions, bad or good need to mean something.  No matter what universe you¡¯re in, otherwise existence has no meaning.¡±

    Sarah got really quiet after that.  Her mind was swimming with the depth of Serena¡¯s words.  They struck a chord deep inside her that she didn¡¯t know was there.  There was an unmistakable truth to them.  The pain in Serena¡¯s voice when she spoke told Sarah something else.  Her new friend had made this mistake and regretted it profoundly.  They arrived at MANA headquarters.  Sarah glanced at Serena as they waited for the arrival of their ride at the gate station on Earth 3.

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    Serena kicked a wayward stone, her knuckles becoming white as she gripped her rolling suitcase¡¯s handle tears starting to form in her eyes.

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    ¡°I destroyed my home universe by accident.  My mom, my sisters, my dad.  I haven¡¯t been able to get it back.  Seraph refused to help.  She told me¡­ she told me that was the cost of hubris.  That a lesson learned through loss is rarely forgotten.  That if she undid it, I would learn nothing and that all decisions needed to matter.¡±

    Serena looked up as Sarah wrapped her arm around her and hugged her tightly.

    ¡°That was awful of her.¡±

    Serena released her bags and hugged Sarah crying on her shoulder.  Sarah spoke softly to her new friend.

    ¡°With power like ours it¡¯s easy to hurt people without meaning too.  Seraph should have helped you.¡±

    Serena released Sarah, she continued to sniffle wiping her hand across her nose.  She shook her head.

    ¡°No, she was right.¡±

    ¡°But countless people¡­countless aliens¡­  She can¡¯t just¡­¡±

    Serena shook her head.

    ¡°She can.  She has entire universes she just lets die to deal with some big bad guy.  What is one more?  She told me the only reason I cared was because it was my family.¡±

    Sarah tugged Serena close for another tight hug.  She whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t told anyone else¡­¡±

    Sarah put her hand on the back of Serena¡¯s head.

    ¡°Shh.  Just cry it out.¡±

    Misha found the pair like that he rubbed the back of his neck while he waited for them to finish.  The hug continued for several minutes.  Finally, he cleared his throat.

    ¡°Ride¡¯s here.¡±

    Serena blushed as she broke the hug and wiped the tears from her face.  Misha moved their bags into the back of the black SUV he was driving.  After the pair were seated and had their belts on, he offered a tissue to each.  Serena blew her nose.  When a second was offered she took it and wiped away her tears.  Misha glanced in the rear-view mirror.

    ¡°Usually, it¡¯s going to Russia that makes people cry.¡±

    He laughed.  His laughter proved contagious and soon the two girls were giggling. He smiled and returned his focus to the road ahead.  Out of the fog loomed a gigantic shadowy figure.  Misha slammed on the breaks and the SUV skidded as it almost collided with the leg of a hydra.  All five of its heads leaned down and cones of fire blasted the front of the SUV.  It wasn¡¯t an armored tank like the ones on Earth Prime so it easily caught fire.  Misha shouted in Russian.

    ¡°Get out!¡±

    The glass on the windshield liquified as the trio evacuated the vehicle.  Misha pulled out his pistol and started shooting the hydra.  All he managed to do was annoy the massive creature.  He didn¡¯t panic.  He motioned for the girls to retreat towards the gateway.  He spoke on his radio.

    ¡°Barrier breach!  Gateway road!  Amber-2 Sector.  Hydra is loose in the compound!  Two students are in danger.¡±

    Several voices responded.  One in particular stood out, it was the headmistress.

    ¡°Which students?¡±

    ¡°Serena and Sarah.¡±

    ¡°They are authorized to use whatever means necessary to remove the threat to their lives.¡±

    Misha looked at Sarah then the limiter.  Sarah smiled at him then closed her eyes.  When she opened them, they were the eyes of a vampire.  She looked at Serena who shrugged and flew into the air.  She started chanting a spell.  Sarah went for less arcane methods and reached out her hands.  Green veins seeped into them as the vines and trees of the dark forest ripped through the barrier breach and started wrapping around the hydra¡¯s necks, and legs.  Serena¡¯s spell finished and a bolt of green lightning arced from her outstretched hand.  The hydra howled as its one free head shriveled up and fell to the ground limply.  Serena frowned.

    ¡°That usually just outright kills things.¡±

    Sarah remembered Enid¡¯s actions against the man in the green house.  She clenched her fist.  The foliage she had gathered started to crush the hydra.  Her eyes flared a bright green when she reached out her left hand in a striking motion, fingers outstretched.  Several plants grew massive spikes and tore into the hydra¡¯s body shredding flesh and bone.  Within seconds it exploded into a burst of blood and gore, literally torn to shreds.  Glowing blue eyes peered through the barrier as the humans who had been corrupted by the wild magic of the world started towards the torn barrier.

    Serena reached out her hands and arcs of super-heated green plasma streamed out of them.  The plasma was so hot it turned the rock and earth molten, and it started to evaporate.  Sarah followed up by holding up her hands and formed a wall with the moist foliage that hadn¡¯t caught fire.  The wall of trees interwove.  By the time she was finished it was stronger than even a stone wall.  Serena cast a spell and the fledgling forest fire that had started was quenched with a burst of magic.  She slowly lowered herself to the ground and looked at Sarah.

    ¡°I guess what they say about mother nature is true.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Serena pointed to the remnants of the hydra.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with her.¡±

    Sarah was glad she was a vampire because the hydra¡¯s remains were even making Misha look a bit green.  She was sure if she were human the contents of her stomach would be gracing the road.  Misha gagged and turned away.  He spoke on his radio.

    ¡°Threat neutralized.  Send a repair team for the barrier.  Also, we¡¯ll need another ride.  This one is on fire.¡±

    Serena was already pulling the luggage out of the rear of the SUV and moving it away from the burning vehicle.  Sarah watched her.

    ¡°Umm, it¡¯s on fire Serena.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m immune to it.  So, relax.¡±

    When the reinforcements from the school proper arrived they found Sarah and Serena sitting on their suitcases.  Misha was scratching the back of his head dumbfounded by the carnage the two grade nine students had wrought.  Among the responders in the three black SUVs were the Headmistress, Helen, and Carly.  Eyre was in a heavy hoodie.  The headmistress quirked one of her red eyebrows as she looked over the remnants of the hydra.  Her gaze focused on the shriveled head that had obviously been hit with a death spell.  She pointed at the head and looked too Serena and Sarah.

    ¡°Which one of you did this?¡±

    Serena blinked innocently.

    ¡°Did what Headmistress?¡±

    Eyre¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Used a death spell.  Who the hell taught you that?¡±

    Serena shrugged.

    ¡°Self-study, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre frowned.

    ¡°You should not be using magic like that yet; It can be as dangerous to the wielder as it is to the target.¡±

    Serena nodded.

    ¡°Understood, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Eyre motioned toward Carly.  Carly approached her.

    ¡°Get your students back to their dorm please, Major.   Make sure Sarah gets some blood wouldn¡¯t want her snacking on her roommate again.¡±

    Sarah wanted to faint, or run, or both.  How did the headmistress know about that?  Sarah swallowed hard and started gathering up her luggage.  Serena gathered up her own luggage and decided she¡¯d rather float over the shredded hydra blood and guts.  Sarah wished she could do the same then realized she was also floating.  The pair landed beside Carly and Eyre.  Eyre frowned at Sarah.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to have a talk later, young lady.¡±

    Sarah nodded and quickly started putting her bags in the back of Carly¡¯s SUV.  The pair piled into the back, neither wanting to sit beside Carly, who for her part looked rather upset at the two girls.  The ride to the Umbra dorm was quiet.  Carly kept glancing in the mirror, most of her focus was on Sarah who felt a little like she¡¯d just wandered into the lion¡¯s den.  Or more appropriately after the encounter with a fire breathing hydra, into the dragon¡¯s lair.

    Carly went into the blood storage room after the trio arrived at the dorm.  Serena was waiting patiently for Sarah and Carly.  Sarah blinked a few times looking her new friend up and down then realized she likely didn¡¯t know where anything was on campus.  Serena had just finished telling her she wasn¡¯t omniscient.  Sarah was so lost in her thoughts she jumped when she felt something cold on the skin of her pale vampiric fingers.  She looked down and Carly was shoving several blood bags at her.

    ¡°Drink up.  Drinking your roommates blood falls under the you broke a rule, but I¡¯m not sure which rule so I won¡¯t punish you this time rule.  You know you¡¯re probably going to be responsible for an update to the Aurelius Academy rules and regulations?¡±

    Sarah would be blushing, if she still had the ability.  She shuddered as she drank down the first cold blood pack.  After tasting it warm and fresh from the fountain in the other world it seemed a bit like torture.  She suddenly wished she had that ring her hostess wore to sustain her.  Sarah looked up as she sucked on the first one.  Serena and Carly were both watching her, which made her feel very self-conscious.  She rushed through the other four and offered the empty blood bags back to Carly.  She¡¯d have changed back to a mortal but that would mean she¡¯d have to deal with the physical effects of the turmoil roiling inside her.  Carly took the bags and motioned for them to move on.

    Serena had to rush to keep up with Sarah who was desperately trying to put distance between herself and Carly.  The pair was stuck up at the door which was locked.  Sarah fished for her keys desperately.  Carly arrived as the door swung open.  Maria stood there in all her pale gothic glory stroking her silver crucifix.  Serena smiled at her as she passed.  Sarah tried to follow but felt Carly¡¯s hand on her wrist.  Sarah paused and looked up at her friend turned dorm mother and teacher.

    ¡°Sarah, you did good with the hydra and tree wall.  No way we would have been there in time to deal with it.¡±

    Sarah nodded and mumbled thanks before disappearing into the dorm room.  She was a bit surprised when she realized Sasha had been replaced by Serena.  It wasn¡¯t a bad surprise.  It would mean she didn¡¯t have to skulk around so much.  Now it was only Maria she would have to avoid when she was doing sketchy things.  She mused the sketchiest were yet to come and they would need to directly involve the dead-looking vampire.

    Maria waved at Carly and closed the door silently. She stood by it while she watched the S twins as the dorm room had come to call Serena and Sarah.  Or so they believed after Serena modified reality to suit her needs.

    ¡°Sarah, what did you do to a hydra?¡±

    Serena looked at Maria.  She didn¡¯t know her at all, but she assumed the vampire knew her because there¡¯d been no weird stare as she came into the room.  She answered the question on Sarah¡¯s behalf.

    ¡°Oh, she just tore one to shreds with giant trees.  Hydra guts were everywhere.  It was glorious.¡±

    Maria stroked her crucifix while staring at the two girls.

    ¡°What were you doing outside the barrier?¡±

    Serena shook her head.

    ¡°It was inside the barrier, there was a breach.  It attacked us, torched Misha¡¯s SUV.¡±

    Maria moved quickly towards the pair and looked them over for any signs of injury.  Serena squirmed a bit under the firm touch of the pale girl.

    ¡°That tickles!¡±

    Maria released her.

    ¡°You seem fine.¡±

    Sarah looked at Maria.

    ¡°That¡¯s because we are fine.  It didn¡¯t get close to us, just the car.¡±

    Maria glanced towards Amee¡¯s room.

    ¡°Amee is going to be upset.  She designed the new barrier.¡±

    Serena shrugged.

    ¡°Not our fault it broke.  We just got caught in the crossfire.¡±

    Sarah groaned.

    ¡°That was a terrible pun.¡±

    Serena laughed.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk more tomorrow Maria, right now Sarah and I are exhausted right Sarah?¡±

    Sarah nodded and just tossed her luggage on the floor before flopping into bed.  Maria closed the door for the two girls and wandered off.  Sarah rolled over and stared at her ceiling.  She really missed her glow in the dark planets and stars from her room at home.  Her old home, her real home.  She heard Serena shifting in her bed.

    ¡°Hey Serena, where did you learn a death spell?¡±

    ¡°Tower of High Sorcery on the Hidden Isles.  I made myself a member of the royal family.  I can pretty much get away with anything there.  Also made myself a rather high level magic user.¡±

    ¡°High level?¡±

    ¡°Come on you have to have played roleplaying games right?¡±

    ¡°Yea, but why would they have levels?¡±

    ¡°I told you it¡¯s based on my friend¡¯s fantasy world.  The game had levels, so the world has levels.¡±

    Sarah tugged her leggings off and tossed them on the floor.  Next came her bra which she removed without taking her t-shirt off.  A skill she had only acquired recently.  That also went flying.  She rolled on her side and shifted her pillow.

    ¡°So, if I was a Paladin, why could I cast a spell that would be like¡­ a magic user.¡±

    ¡°Probably because you knew the spell yourself.  When you take someone over you keep your own skill set I guess.  I basically made a character sheet for myself before I hopped in all the way instead of just mentally.  But like in this world, we can break all the rules.  Though I try not to, like I said earlier, Seraph is right, you need to deal with the consequences of your actions, or no choices have any meaning.¡±

    Sarah let herself slip back into mortality.  She stared at her black rose vine.

    ¡°How did you destroy your home universe?¡±

    Serena didn¡¯t answer for several minutes.  Sarah thought the young angel might have fallen asleep.  Sarah was just closing her eyes when Serena spoke again.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t like who I was and when I realized I could change anything and everything, I did.  It was small things at first.  Like I made it so I was at a public school instead of a private school.  So, I could be normal like my sisters.  That meant I never met my best friend.  So that meant he got depressed and killed himself.  So, then I made it so that never happened and made it, so we were friends.  That made it so it was his mother who died.  Because we went to a theater closer to the public high school, his mother had to take a different route home.  There was an accident.  So, I made it, so she wasn¡¯t in that intersection.  Then the truck hit a school bus full of children.  It spiraled from there.  Eventually I had made so many changes I couldn¡¯t put it back the way it was because I had no idea how to because I didn¡¯t see the whole picture, like Seraph can.  Because it was so unstable it migrated to the failed universe strand.  Someone named the Black Son showed up, destroyed everything.  I barely escaped.¡±

    Sarah could hear Serena sniffling.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    Serena shifted in her bed. Sarah was quiet for a few moments then asked another question.

    ¡°Is that why you live your life in universes you create?¡±

    Sarah could see her wiping tears from her eyes and could hear her trying to keep the sobs in, finally after a quarter of an hour she answered.

    ¡°When I am me, I start to think about everything I lost because¡­  because being me wasn¡¯t good enough.¡±

    Sarah slipped out of her own bed and crawled in behind Serena.  She wrapped her arms around the broken teenage angel.  Serena wrapped her hands around Sarah¡¯s and closed her eyes.

    ¡°That fantasy world was created by your best friend, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Serena whispered yes as she nodded.  Sarah pulled Serena close as they spooned.

    ¡°Once things are fixed for Maria and Enid, I¡¯d like to go there with you.  I¡¯d like it if you could show me around and tell me about him.  He¡¯s not gone, neither are your family, they live on in you.¡±

    Serena tugged Sarah¡¯s arms to pull her even closer.  The pair drifted off.

 Earth 3 - Things best left forgotton

    When Sarah opened her eyes, she sighed.  She was sitting in what appeared to be a Norse feast hall.  Another one of Enid¡¯s memories invading her dreams.  There was a disturbance at one of the tables.  When she focused on the source it was a girl who appeared her age but was a giant even amongst the Vikings around her.  She was downing a massive tankard of what Sarah could only assume was alcohol.  A man to her side said something she didn¡¯t quite catch.  She looked towards him.

    He had long blonde hair.  Blue eyes.  And a long beard with braids.  The man looked like he was well into adulthood.  He had muscles for days.  Overall, Sarah was in awe.  He was motioning to the girl.  He repeated himself.

    ¡°Tell me, Valkyrie can your daughter even get drunk.¡±

    Sarah was staring at him with starry eyes.  She mumbled an answer.

    ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    The man laughed and pounded the sturdy table before him.

    ¡°She has the makings of a shield-maiden of legend!¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t looking at the girl.  She could not take her eyes off of the man beside her.  It was like she was sitting beside Thor.  She bit her lower lip as the muscles of his bare forearms rippled when he wrapped his hand around a tankard of ale and downed it.  He continued speaking in that gruff but warm voice.  Honestly Sarah could listen to him talk all day.  It didn¡¯t matter what the subject was.

    ¡°Can she fight?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Sarah wasn¡¯t really thinking clearly.  Teenage hormones were a hell of a drug.  Sarah wasn¡¯t accustomed to looking at boys, rather men in this way.  This being a dream she was likely to see just how far it was going to go.  She was leaning over towards the man when she woke with a start.  Her alarm was going off.  She fanned herself as she sat up and glared at her holo-tablet.

    ¡°That was just evil!¡±

    She saw Enid¡¯s reflection in the mirror over her dresser.  Her emerald eyes were sparkling.  Sarah quirked her head to the side as she looked at her not so silent partner.

    ¡°You slept with him.¡±

    Enid nodded.

    ¡°Over and over.¡±

    ¡°The girl¡­ that was your daughter?¡±

    Enid smiled.

    ¡°Hazel, she is a wolf-born.¡±

    ¡°I thought werewolves hated vampires.¡±

    Enid laughed.

    ¡°Only in the movies.  Or if they¡¯re Pugmentia.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s eyes drifted to Serena¡¯s still sleeping form.

    ¡°I feel bad for her.¡±

    Enid shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯ve made my own mistakes.  You just need to learn from them.  Getting wrapped up in what you did wrong is kind of a waste of energy though.  You need to get her on track and get Maria¡¯s soul back in her body.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s in a bad place.  She pretends to be happy but she¡¯s hanging on by a thread.¡±

    ¡°Which is exactly why we need this done sooner than later.¡±

    Sarah frowned.

    ¡°You really are heartless.¡±

    Enid laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m a realist.  You know when they tell you on the plane to worry about your mask first?  That¡¯s what you should be doing.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever done anything for anyone else?¡±

    Enid¡¯s emerald eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Everything I have ever done has been for others.  For twenty-five hundred years I have served, I have served my three fathers, my children, vampires, and mortals.  I have slain humans, vampires, gods, demons, angels and everything in between in the name of service.  I have drowned the world in their blood.  I am the watcher at the border between the mortals and the supernatural.  I am the wall between reality and oblivion.  I rewrote reality and potentially sacrificed everything I am and my family to stop the Black Son from doing what he did to Serena¡¯s world to everything.  Even now I do what I do to save your life.  I have sacrificed everything for others.  What have you done?¡±

    Sarah blinked at the mirror.  She¡¯d never heard Enid so angry before.  She stammered a few times before managing a response.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I see in your memories.¡±

    Enid¡¯s voice was low when she responded.

    ¡°That is because I have witnessed things that would break your mortal mind.  I let you see the happy memories so I can keep the others buried in darkness, where they belong.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.  You¡¯re supposed to be this bad ass¡­¡±

    ¡°You want to see more?  You want to see the truth that hides in the shadows?  The darkness in the hearts of men?  Lay down and close your eyes.  I¡¯ll grant your wish.¡±

    Sarah looked at her runners.  She hadn¡¯t gone for a good jog in a week.  She sighed and laid down and closed her eyes.

    ******

    Enid pulled the hood of her cloak over her voluminous red hair.  London in this century was far different than it had been while England was under the rule of Edward the third.  Soot and coal smoke choked the air and the distant thud and hum of massive machines of steam had replaced the smell of human excrement, the latter was still here, she would have loved it if it were the only aroma.  The pollution of the mortal¡¯s new technological monstrosities burned her vampiric senses.  If she cared for mortals at all she¡¯d wonder what it was doing to them.  A silver-tipped cane had replaced the mythical blade she would have carried openly in that bygone era of armored kings and knights. Bloodseeker would taste no blood tonight.  The bobbies would take exception to a woman of any class carrying a bloodstained silver long blade.  She had no wish for further mortal interference in the affairs of vampires this night.

    Sarah felt like a passenger in this memory.  She was carried along with Enid.  The vampire¡¯s thoughts drifting into her own mind.  They were intermingled here, more closely than they had been before.

    Enid could hear the hurried footsteps of her prey ahead of her.  The hard soled boots echoed off the walls of the factories that surrounded them.  The one she hunted was moving quickly.  Perhaps in her youth she would have felt sorry for the woman, the vampire, but she was long past such moral quandaries.  For two millennia she¡¯d enforced the laws of her father, the emperor.  Why should this one be any different?

    Sarah wondered who Enid was hunting that was so dangerous, or important.

    Enid didn¡¯t hurry her pace.  She could smell the Pugmentia.  They had a peculiar scent compared to other vampires.   The same aroma of sweetness mixed with the putrid smell of the corruption that birthed them.  Her crimes were many.  She had what vampires called a thirst for innocence.  She fed exclusively from children.  Always killing them afterwards.  Enid frowned.  How far gone must a vampire be to do such things?

    Sarah was disgusted as images of the remnants left by Enid¡¯s prey leaked into her thoughts.  Children drained of blood and left in different poses.  Disgusting poses.  She wanted it to stop now but apparently Enid was not going to listen.

    Enid was almost on top of the vampire she hunted.  She heard a strangled cry for help from one of the many dark alleys in this part of London.  Her emerald eyes scanned her surroundings and saw a group of men standing over a woman.  Blood seeped from the woman¡¯s side.   She closed her eyes.  She glanced in the direction of her prey, then back to the unfolding rape and murder.  Mortals, she thought, it wasn¡¯t her place to interfere.  A memory long buried surfaced of her father, a large, bearded man.  His cheeks flush with rage.  He stood over her bloody knife in hand.  The things he had done to her.  Murdering her was the least of them.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Sarah wept silently as the abuse Enid had suffered as a child leaked between the thin membrane where the latter ended, and the former began.  The things she¡¯d gone through.  Now it would be forever etched in her own memories.  There were monsters in the world and most of them were humans¡­

    Enid reached down to her cane flicking the hilt, so it separated the blade from the sheath slightly.  The silver glowed in the pale moon light.  Her prey was already dead, whether that was now, or an hour from now.  She¡¯d hunt another group of monsters first.  One of the men noticed Enid.  He sneered and tipped his hat.

    ¡°Move along boy.¡±

    Enid moved towards him.  There was a time calling her boy would have ended with her in a rage.  She was over such things now.  She stepped closer keeping her head low.  Her eyes began to glow yellow under her deep cowl.  The darkness of the night evaporated.  It was like the sun was shining brightly.  No detail would escape her.  The man motioned to her cane.

    ¡°Give that here boy, looks too expensive for the likes of you.¡±

    Sarah knew the men were about to die.  She could sense Enid¡¯s anger.  She recognized her body¡¯s reactions.  They were the same as hers.  Enid was preparing to strike.

    Enid seemed to sense the attack before it came and sidestepped a blow with a club that would have cracked her skull if she were human.  She spun around pulling the silver sword from its sheath.  The blade stabbed upwards into her attacker¡¯s throat.  She pulled it out swiftly flicking the blade.  Blood splattered across the pavement.  The man who had tried to hit her from behind held his throat.  He made gurgling sounds as he began to drown on his own blood.  Enid turned her attention to the other three men and made a come at me motion with the hand holding the cane sheath.

    The man who had initially spoke to her pulled out a knife.  He lunged towards her.  Enid saw the attack coming before the man had begun to move.  She stabbed upwards through his jaw with the cane hilt. The silver tip rammed through the bottom of the man¡¯s jaw.  If Enid were a mortal woman that is where it would have stopped.  She was no mortal, so the point smashed through his upper jaw, into his brain.  When she let it go, he fell forward, and the silver tip exited the top of his skull when he hit the ground.

    Sarah was horrified.  She knew how to do all of this.  Now it was like she had.  This dream was visceral and even though she was seeing it through Enid¡¯s eyes she felt the sword in her hand.

    The last two men were becoming very hesitant.  Enid lunged at the nearest, her silver blade pierced his gut.  The other one decided now would be a good time to run.   Enid didn¡¯t bother chasing him, she just reached out her hand and clenched her fist.  The man was yanked backwards by an unseen force.  She motioned towards a wall.  The man hit it with such force the bricks of the wall cracked.  He fell to the ground, every bone in his body broken.  He was still breathing for the moment.  The only sound he could make was a low whine.  Enid held out her hand and the silver tipped sheath popped out of the man¡¯s skull and lept to her hand.  She leaned down and began to clean the viscera off of the sheath and her sword.

    Enid inspected the wound on the one she¡¯d stabbed in the gut.  She¡¯d cut him in such a way that he would bleed out in a few minutes.  There was no surviving the injury.  Satisfied she stood up and walked towards the woman who was holding her side.  The woman crawled backwards.  Enid kneeled down and pulled her hood back.  The woman¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°You¡¯re a girl.¡±

    Enid nodded.  She moved closer and lifted the woman¡¯s hand off the wound.  She pulled a poultice from her pack and put it over top of it.  She took the woman¡¯s hand and put it back over the injury.

    ¡°Go home.  Hold it there for an hour.  You¡¯ll be sore but you¡¯ll live.¡±

    Sarah was shocked, as cold as Enid pretended to be, it seemed she had a heart.  She¡¯d never seen it before in the memories.

    Enid stood up and pulled her hood over her head again.  The woman looked at Enid.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Enid looked down at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m the monster that other monsters fear, go home and forget you saw me.¡±

    Enid spared no more thought to the woman.  She sniffed the air and picked up the trail of her child-killing prey.

    ******

    Sarah blinked a few times.   Her eyes drifted to the mirror.  Enid¡¯s eyes were filled with sadness as she looked back.  Sarah wanted to be a vampire so badly at this moment, but the sun was streaming down on her.  It would make no difference.  The shared memories roiled in her head.  It had been a short ten minutes of Enid¡¯s life.  The entire thing was horrific.  Violent and brutal. Enid had been right.  They were memories that were best left forgotten.  If she multiplied those ten minutes by the span of twenty-five hundred years.  She suddenly realized just how much Enid had been through.  Sarah whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Serena was stirring and mumbled a response.

    ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, was talking to myself.¡±

    Sarah wiped away the tears that were now dripping down her cheeks.  As much as she wished she had never seen any of the memories, she now felt a deep empathy for the vampire who shared her body.  How was Enid still sane?  How did she want to go on?  How could she trust men after what her father had done? Sarah shuddered.  The sins of her parents against her were nothing.  They were literally nothing compared to the sexual violence perpetrated on Enid as a child.  The man had branded his own daughter.  She would never be able to forget it, she¡¯d lived a brief instant of it but she¡¯d never forget it now.  Serena rubbed her eyes and looked at Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah, why are you shaking?¡±

    Sarah wiped what remained of her tears away.

    ¡°Just a memory of Enid¡¯s that I wish I had not seen.¡±

    Serena frowned.

    ¡°We need to get her out of you as soon as possible.¡±

    Sarah nodded.  Serena rushed over and hugged Sarah tightly.  Sarah¡¯s tears started to soak Serena¡¯s nightshirt.  Serena patted her back gently.

    ¡°It was her memory, not yours.  Just keep telling yourself that.¡±

    Amee appeared in the doorway.  She quirked her head to the side looking at Serena.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you.  What did you do to Sarah?¡±

    Serena looked at Sarah then to Amee.  Sarah pushed Serena away and stood between the two.

    ¡°She¡¯s my friend, I¡¯ll explain everything just¡­ give us a minute please.¡±

    Amee crossed her arms.

    ¡°This had better be good otherwise I¡¯m going straight to Carly.  Been in enough trouble lately over your antics Sarah.¡±

    Amee wandered off, leaving the door open.  Serena looked at Sarah again.  She whispered.

    ¡°How does she know?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°She has cybernetic ear implants.  She can hear leaves blowing twenty kilometers away whispering will not help.  I don¡¯t know she¡¯s filled with alien cybernetics.  Maybe there is a shield or something against thought alteration.  I should talk to her.¡±

    Sarah shoved off the bed and walked to Amee¡¯s room.  Amee looked up at her.

    ¡°What thought alteration?¡±

    Sarah made a shh sound.

    ¡°Maria¡¯s not here.  What is going on?¡±

    ¡°Serena is¡­ an angel?  Goddess?  She changed the past so according to the world she exists here and always has.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t know her.  I have temporal shielding; It protects me from changes in the timeline.¡±

    Amee paused for a brief second as she processed the information she¡¯d just been told.

    ¡°Wait, she¡¯s a PL 21?¡±

    Amee blinked a few times.  Then she looked at Sarah with her magenta eyes.

    ¡°Who is Enid?  Wait¡­ is it Eyre¡¯s mom Enid?  The PL 21?¡±

    Sarah shook her head.

    ¡°Enid is¡­  I¡¯m¡­ it is really hard to explain but I¡¯m basically using Enid¡¯s intended body and she¡¯s here in my head, sharing it.  I need Maria to fix it, but Maria lost most of her soul two thousand years ago so Serena who is not Enid or Seraph¡­  Seraph is like god god¡­  its really complicated.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say.  It sounds like you¡¯re way out of your depth Sarah.¡±

    Sarah plopped down on Amee¡¯s bed and just nodded in response to that statement.

    ¡°But we can¡¯t tell anyone.  If MANA found out about Serena¡­ I¡¯m not sure they could do anything but they might try and I really need her help to get Maria back her soul.  Then Maria can separate Enid and I, but we¡¯ll need a body for that¡­  I think there might be a clone of her on Earth 2.¡±

    ¡°Woah.  Slow down.  How is Maria alive if she has no soul?¡±

    ¡°Vampires are different.  They don¡¯t need¡­  I don¡¯t understand but Enid says it is what we need to do.¡±

    ¡°So, Enid is talking to you, in your head?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ I usually see her in reflective surfaces when she talks to me.¡±

    Amee took Sarah¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright?  You sound a bit¡­ crazy.¡±

    Sarah yanked her hands back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your judgment I need your help! I¡¯m not crazy!  I thought you learned that lesson!¡±

    Amee stood up as Sarah started to rush from the room.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it-¡±

    Amee sighed as Sarah stormed out before she could finish.

    ¡°That way.¡±

    Sarah didn¡¯t say anything to Serena as she gathered her things to shower and get ready for class.  She just wasn¡¯t in the mood for any level of social interaction.  She stopped by her room for ADHD medication and skipped breakfast.  Once her medication kicked in, she wouldn¡¯t even notice she hadn¡¯t eaten.  It avoided any manner of interaction before class.  Unfortunately leaving early left her vulnerable to another interaction she hadn¡¯t thought of.   She jumped when she heard Lucius clearing his throat.  Her response was rather caustic in tone.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Sarah didn¡¯t even look to where she knew he would be standing.

    ¡°Ouch, someone is in a mood.¡±

    Sarah growled.

    ¡°Go away Lucius.  Enid is not here at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ so you know who you are now.¡±

    Sarah turned towards him; Her eyes narrowed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not her idiot.  We¡¯re just sharing a body.¡±

    She could feel the frost that was starting to cover her heart evaporate when she saw him.  She silently cursed the bond shared between him and Enid.  Because their souls were intertwined, she felt the pull too.  She never believed in love at first sight before but now she could see it through Enid¡¯s link to Lucius.  She clamped down on the feelings.  She was supposed to be angry because of Amee calling her insane.

    ¡°Go away.  Once we get separated you can have her back.  I¡¯m not her.¡±

    Lucius made a hmm sound.

    ¡°You have her temper.¡±

    ¡°Only because dead people keep talking to me and then everyone thinks I¡¯m insane!  Fuck off!¡±

    Sarah blinked.  She was not one to swear.  Perhaps it was Enid bleeding through.   Lucius crossed his arms and his head leaned to the side slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be here if you need me.  Sarah.  The Roman legionnaries had a saying:  Solus dies facilis hesternus erat.¡±

    Sarah blinked as she translated it into rough English.  The only easy day was yesterday.  She had heard it before, but it was an American military thing.  Her train arrived.  She got on board, Lucius¡¯s words echoing in her head.  He had acknowledged her as not Enid with them.  She looked out the window and saw him wave to her as the light rail train whisked her into the tunnels beneath the school.  A memory haunted her of a legion marching through the mud against an army of fair skinned men with blue face paint at their head was a woman.  She heard the name echo in her head, Boudica.  Then she saw the image of the woman¡¯s headless body lying at her feet. She closed her eyes and pushed it away.  She realized it was one of Enid¡¯s memories.  It was getting worse. Sarah saw Enid¡¯s reflection in the window of the train when she opened her eyes.  Though the red-headed vampire said nothing to her.