Okay, you might see some characters from Sparky and Flame's fan fics too as I have permission to use them...
My alarm blared and I rolled out of bed, pulling my phone with me trying to shut off the noise. I stopped the alarm, after a few attempts, and looked at the date.
First of September...
I was going to do something today but I couldn't remember what it was... Then it hit me. The train left today!
My mother rapped on the door. "Eden? Are you awake?" she called.
"Yeah." I called back groggily whilst getting up and checking my trunk. Again. We'd visited Diagon Alley earlier that week and were now in a Premier Inn close to the station.
"Come on then, it's nine o'clock." she said and I heard her walk away. I went into the small bathroom, washed then crossed to my small suitcase and pulled on my jeans and T-shirt. I then dumped the rest of my Muggle clothes in my trunk and closed it (after several attempts).
I pulled my trunk out of the small room and into the small living room. Eragon (my eagle owl) was already back in his cage and plumping his feathers. I picked up his cage and carried it along with my trunk down into the modern lobby. It had a shiny sandstone floor and wood panelled walls with big open windows which had a great view of the car park. My mother, a Muggle, gave me a slice of toast then took the cage and carried it outside. I took a bite out of the toast and followed her, dragging along my trunk. We reached my mum's red Megane and I opened the boot and wrestled in the trunk.
I climbed in the passenger's side as Nancy started the car with Eragon in the back seat. We pulled off the car park and onto the already busy road.
"Oh, come on." my mother hissed.
I smirked.
"You sure you've got everything?" she asked as the lights turned to green.
"Yup, I've checked twice this morning." I said, finishing my toast.
We drove for half an hour then, finally, turned onto the King Cross car park as a clock chimed ten, fifteen.
I grabbed Eragon and my trunk, put them on a trolley and weaved through the other passengers onto the Muggle platforms.
"Ticket?" Nancy asked.
I pulled it from my pocket.
"Good, now are you coming home for Christmas?" she asked. She was always very teacher like. Probably because she was a teacher, English at the High School i would have gone to if I hadn't been a half-blood and got into Hogwarts.
"I dunno, I'll write and tell you." I called over my shoulder and started my run at the barrier.
"See you then!" she called and the wall passed over me.
A moment later I was on the platform, many people already there even though it was half an hour until departure.
I wondered down the train, found an empty compartment and climbed in, stowed away my trunk on the rack above my head and sat with Eragon beside me.
People bustled around on the platform beyond the window with steam clouding above their heads. They ran around hugging, chatting and discussing the events of the World Cup. I remembered picking up that days copy of the Daily Prophet hoping to find the score and instead I saw someone had conjured the Dark Mark.
My thoughts were interrupted when a boy with auburn hair and sea green eyes entered the cabin. "Hey Iggy." he said, putting away his own trunk and owl.
'Iggy' was my nickname, there's a very dull, old story behind it that you honestly wouldn't care about so I'm not going to explain it.
"Who says you can sit there, Nathaniel?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh ha ha." he said, slumping into the seat across from me.
Nathaniel Rupert was in Slytherin with me and we were going back for our fourth year at the old castle.
"Did you see the business at the World Cup?" he asked in his thick Irish accent, pulling out today's copy of the Prophet.
"Who hasn't?" I replied at the three Trouble Pointers walked past. "Scarhead was there, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, Granger and Weasley too." he said, reading the front page article.
We didn't have anything against Potter really but it certainly pissed us off that he got points for breaking school rules.
The whistle blew outside and everybody poured onto the train. A boy with dark brown hair and chocolate coloured eyes pulled his trunk and owl into the compartment angrily and stowed them away muttering 'Stupid brothers' darkly then sat down next to me.
Me and Nathan raised our eyebrows.
"My younger brothers hid my robes this morning, I din't find them until twenty past ten." Daniel explained as the train started forwards.
"Oh, poor you, Master Walton."Nathan said. He had always liked to annoy Daniel with his last name and Daniel always rose to it.
"Shut up, Nathan." he snapped and threw a piece of scrap parchment from his trunk at him.
"Oh well." I said, feeding Eragon an Owl Treat.
"Oh well? Oh well?!! Look at this!" Daniel screeched and pulled out his Slytherin robes and showed us the back.
I snickered and Nathan almost collapsed.
On the back, written in Tip-Ex was one word - Muggle.
Normally, I wouldn't have cared but to a Pureblood like Daniel, it was probably quite insulting.
"It's not funny!" he snapped and and shoved them back in his trunk.
"Just fix them when we get back." I said.
"Is it safe for him to try after last time?" Nathan asked.
"I did better than you, I remember." Daniel growled.
Nathan opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted by the compartment door opening.
Silence followed this for a moment with only the whoosh of the train making a noise and only the country outside moving.
"Hello Draco." I said coolly to the boy with the pointed face and white-blonde hair standing in the doorway.
"Hello Eden, Nathaniel, Daniel." he said and sat down.
I arched my eyebrow. "Where are the thuglies?"
"Not a clue." he responds, leaning back.
"Well, they're not in here so get out." Daniel said, jerking his thumb to the door. By now, the train is rushing through wild fields and tangles of trees.
"That's not a very nice way to talk to your cousin." Draco replied.
"Second cousin and only by marriage." Daniel pointed out, he always had hated to be associated with Draco and the other Malfoys'.
"I guess I'll just go then." Draco said and left and Thalia Whitlock took his place.
"What was that all about?" Nathan and Thalia chorused.
Daniel shook his head and I shrugged.
"Well I'm sure he's just feeling lonely, he's really nice if you talk to him." Thalia said, the love hearts returning to her eyes.
Me, Daniel and Nathan groaned.
"Not this again..." I said, my head drooping.
"What?" she asks.
"He doesn't like you." Nathan said clearly and slowly.
"I'm sure he does." she replied.
"No, he doesn't." Daniel said, blunt as ever.
I could see this blowing into a full scale argument, again, when the lunch trolley showed up. I bought a liquorice want and a bag of cauldron cakes for us to share. I sat down as rain started to splat on the windows making the wild countryside on the other side blurry.
During the damp afternoon we shared theories about what had really gone on at the World Cup and Nathan told us all about the match as he had gone.
He had just finished describing the look on Draco's face when he had seen Potter in the Minister's box (he had seen it on the way to his own seat) and we were all laughing, except Thalia who was scowling, when Albert Nottingwell, a Hufflepuff prefect, opened the door.
"We'll be arriving soon." he said simply and left. I hadn't even noticed the light come on.
Nathan grabbed his uniform and Daniel dragged out his spare then they went to change in another compartment.
Me and Thal changed into our grey school skirts and black tights with white shirts, green and silver ties and our black, green rimmed robes.
"You won't get away with those." Thalia said, pointing at my thick, black, Doc Martin boots.
"They're black." I said.
"McGonagall'll turn them into mice or something."
"I'll risk it, anyway, I've got my old shoes in my trunk, just in case." I said, pulling out one of my old shoes.
A moment later, the train stopped in the station and the doors opened.
"C'mon, we'll find them on the platform." Thal said, grabbed my wrist and pulled me from the compartment.
Lynxia x
Saturday 30 June 2012
Healing Day
"I hearby declare that this date, 28th of June, shalt be know henceforth as Healing Day, as it is the day that the location Blogland is considored Fully Healed. Blogland took a great mental battering a few months ago. There were the terrible Cycles. One of which was the Anger Cycle, in which many Minions got angry at each other; moreover, Blogland was not so nice as before. Perheps the best known is the Depreession Cycle, in which many of the Minions felt overcome with sadness; this then in turn left the other Minions feeling low in spirits. Needless to say, Blogland was not so cheerful a place to be. Many of the Minions attempted to heal Blogland, but it was a fragile peace, one in which the slightest little thing could result in Minions yelling at each other to be happy. Eventually we got over it, but gone was the fighting, the messing around in the lake. Talking filled most of the Bloglandian's conversations. It was a very nice Blogland, but not QUITE how Blogland should be. However, I know think we are back to how we were before. Completely Healed. We are behaving as Bloglandiams should behave again. And so I name the day Healing Day, least we should all forget how dark Blogland once became and how joyous it was to have it back again."
~ Star Inkbright
~ Star Inkbright
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Crescent , Chapter 8 - The League...
This is possibly the longest chapter I have ever wrote in any story and I am fairly proud of it...
Philip unlocked the door to the flat and went in. He dropped his bag in the living room and his sister ran in.
"Phily! Phily!" she cried, jumping up and down.
"How many times, Sasha? Don't call me that!" he sighed.
She smiled like only an eleven year old could. "That's why I call you it." she laughed.
Philip was about to respond when his mother rushed in. She held Philip's face in her hands and her eyes dug into his. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" she fussed.
"Why would he be hurt?" Sasha asked from the sofa where she was now watching something on the TV.
"I'm fine." Philip said at the same time.
"Sasha, can you go to your room for a minute?" Philip's mother, Violet, said, looking at his sister.
"Mum!" Sasha wailed.
"Go." Violet said forcefully, pointing out of the room.
Sasha grumbled but, reluctantly, left the room.
"Mum, why did-" Philip began.
"This is dangerous, Philip." his mum interrupted him, her face more stern than he had ever seen it before. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this?" she asked, pacing the room.
"Do I really have a choice now? And why didn't you tell me Dad was involved?" Violet stopped pacing.
"No, I guess you don't have the choice any more." she sighed. "And I didn't tell you about you father because he died doing this and I didn't want to lose you too." she said, looking away from him.
"This Shade guy?" Philip asked.
His mother nodded.
"Dad could fly too, couldn't he?"
She nodded again.
"You could have told me all along, you know." he said.
"I know that now." she sniffed and Philip saw tears rimming her eyes. "Beam said you're meeting the League tomorrow so I want you in bed early. From what your father said, they're an... Odd bunch." she said, wiped her eyes and left the room.
Philip looked out of the small window as the silence flooded in. He could see the tops of other blocks of flats and the cold, grey sky above them. "Superheroes..." he muttered, thinking.
Philip's mother left at half past seven the next morning, taking Sasha to school and then going to her new day job.
Philip dressed simply, as it was sunny - jeans, a T-shirt and trainers - then went and waited outside. He had been waiting for only a few minutes when Pixel walked up, despite the sun, she was wearing a long coat that was fastened all the way up. Her hands were gloved in what looked like lycra and he could see black boots underneath the coat.
She saw his odd look at the coat. "It's covering up my suit." she explained.
"Uh, suit?" he asked.
"Suit, supersuit." she said as if talking to a six year old.
"Oh, right, but couldn't you get changed when you're there?" he asked.
"The meeting starts at about the time we'll get there and my suit has plastic in it. Plastic! It takes me about an hour to get it on while everyone else's are just lycra and slip on." she grumbled whilst looking at her gloved hand with slight hate. "Anyway, we better get going." she said and started walking again, Philip falling into step beside her.
They walked into the station a few minutes later where they boarded the train amid numerous odd looks that were thrown at Pixel. Philip could tell she was close to snapping and the next person to give her a funny look would get God-knows-what thrown at them. She sat down, muttering darkly about the suit.
Philip decided it would be best not to speak.
They looked at the blurs that were trees, bushes and houses as they went passed. They slowed down as they pulled into the Redbrook station and more passengers piled on, only one of whom did not give Pixel an odd look. Philip tried to see their face but it was covered by a flap of black hair, he could just make out one, grey eye.
The train carried on and quickly arrived at the high-rise station. Pixel all but ran from the train and they got into the elevator with seven other people.
The elevator went down first where seven people left, then up to the top floor where two people left, down to the ninth floor where the last two left and finally up to ten where Pixel and Philip climbed out.
"Alleluia. Pixel muttered and removed the coat and placed it on a coat stand by the lift that was otherwise empty. Pixel grumbled something that sounded like 'Lucky sods' then closed her eyes and Philip noticed the design on her suit.
It was pitch black and tight fitting. Green light pulsed from the fingertips of the gloves now. The design was the same as on her console - parallel lines and circles. The luminous green energy finished flooding the design and Philip saw that a 'P' had been made on the chest with two lines and a circle, these shapes pulsed white. Philip started in amazing.
"Oh my God." Philip managed.
Pixel sighed and opened her eyes. "It's too flashy, I hate it's start up."
"Won't someone see your suit though?" he asked.
"Yeah, but all this floor belongs to HATE so nobody will care." she said, leading the way to the windowless corridor.
"Has everyone gotta wear their suits?" Philip wondered aloud.
"Yeah, the suits with no plastic!" she grumbled, flicking part of her suit that echoed with a dull thud. "Hang on." she said and placed her hand on the wood panel. "Authorisation code: Alpha-two-three-oh-four. Clearance number: Seven-two-nine-oh-two-three. Name: Pixel." she said into the speaker. The panel slid away and they went into the hidden elevator beyond, Philip pressed the black button and the started to descend.
When it opened onto the NASA-like control room, a man in a lab coat stepped over and handed Philip a burgundy package. "Beam said to give you this." he said and walked away.
"What?! Really?!! I had to wait three weeks to get my suit and you get yours on your second day?!!?" she said.
"M-My suit?" Philip said and shook out the material. It was burgundy in colour with a deep red line running down the sides on the arms, legs and sides. There was a triangle on the chest which was outline but was the shades of fire. In the centre of the triangle was a gold, lightning shaped 'F'. A pair of dark red boots to match the stripes fell from the bundle.
"That's nice." Pixel admitted. "Oh, and look - no plastic!" she added bitterly.
Philip was speechless.
"Come on, there's a toilet near the conference room, you can get changed there." she said and went through the door by the stairs and turned left. Philip followed her down the corridor as she turned right. He made a mental note of the corners taken. Right again, straight ahead, then left and finally right again. Pixel pointed at a metal door marked '94A'. "There you go." she said.
Philip went in and quickly changed, swapping his jeans, trainers and T-shirt for the for the light weight suit. He bundled up his normal clothes and carried them under his arm as he left the toilet.
He walked out, inspecting the lycra and how it moved freely.
Pixel arched an eyebrow. "I have to admit, you look good." she said.
Philip looked up and smiled.
"Don't get cocky." she warned and knocked on a set of dark wood double doors at the end of the corridor.
"Who is it?" called a sing-song voice on the other side.
"It's a-me, a-Mario." Pixel said as she went in and Philip followed.
"Mario! You've lost weight!" a boy with light brown hair and pale blue eyes exclaimed.
"You're so funny, Morph." Pixel said sarcastically, sitting opposite but one to the boy. Philip stood by the door, not quite sure what to do.
"I am, aren't I." Morph said, smiling.
"It's called sarcasm but maybe you're tiny brain can't understand anything over one syllable." Pixel replied.
"Oh, get a room you two." a boy said who looked like Morph but younger and with light, gingery hair from next to him.
Two thing happened then. Crackling, green lightning arced from Pixel's fingers and bounced across the long, oval table and hit the boy in the chest, shocking him, and Morph hit him with a hand shaped like a spade, sending him flying from his chair. The other people in the room laughed (one of them silently), except Shimmer, Beam and Philip. Beam sighed, Shimmer rolled her eyes and Philip stepped back in horror as the boy climbed back into his seat.
"Take a seat, Falcon." Beam said from the head of the table. Philip took the only available chair, between Jess and a young man dressed all in white.
"Before we begin, I think we should all get acquainted. You clearly know I'm Beam with the ability to control light." he continued, gesturing to himself.He was wearing the yellow jumpsuit, without the lab coat, and on the chest, a black and white circle enclosed an orange 'B'. He nodded to the woman on his right to carry on.
"My name is Chameleon. I can turn invisible." she said. She wore a short sleeved suit, unlike everyone else, and it was different shades of green and had different plates like scales. A selection of about seven tiles on her chest were all different, bright colours. Chameleon's hair was chestnut brown and her eyes were dark and seemed to change colour.
Next to her sat a woman with very pale, blonde hair that was almost white. Her skin was also pale and her eyes were a quiet, calm grey, yet they still seemed to stare into you. Her suit was a light grey with a large, pale blue 'V' stretching out along most of her torso. "I am Void." she said in an accent that identified her as have gone to Oxford. "I can teleport." she finished. She looked at the teenage boy sitting next to her.
Kyle smiled. "Haze, control of fire." he said. He wore a simple red jumpsuit with black gloves and a large flame design on his chest.
Next to him was Pixel who nodded. "Pixel, I have control of electricity and technology." she said.
Sitting on Pixel's right, and closest to the door on that side, was Shimmer. She was dressed in blue with white cloves and what looked like white lightning spreading over her suit. On her chest was a white circle with a pale purple edge and a rounded 'S' in the middle of the same colour. "I'm Shimmer, as you know, and I have the power to create force fields." she spoke in a level, calm voice and her look passed on the introductions to Morph.
"I'm Morph," he said.
Pixel faked a coughing fit and said 'prick' in the middle of it.
Morph glared and carried on. "I can change into anything I want."
"The boy sitting next to Morph spoke up. "I am, unfortunately, Morph's younger brother by around two years and my name is Focus. I can make you believe anything I want, like did you know, this table is made from cake?" he said soothingly. Philip looked at the table, why hadn't he noticed it before? He was about to pull some off when Focus said "You don't wanna do that, it's not really cake." he said and Philip snapped out of it. Both Focus and Morph wore dark blue suits with black arms and boots with no gloves. The only difference was Morph's suit had a large white 'M' while Focus' had a large white 'F'. They also had the same eyes and tanned skin.
Next to Focus was Jess who smiled at him. "Vines, control over plants." she said simply. She wore a light green jumpsuit with yellow vine shapes weaving up the arms and formed a 'V' on her chest.
Everyone looked at Philip. They already knew each other, they had just been waiting to get to him.
He gulped.
"I'm Falcon and I can fly." he said. A few eyes widened and he heard Morph whisper 'Dragonfly's son' to Focus.
Beam coughed and everyone stopped looking at Philip as he looked at the young man next to him.
The man nodded and Philip heard a voice in his head. "Hello, I'm Probe. A telepath and I also have a few telekinetic powers." it said. Philip realised it must be the man next to him 'talking'. The man saw Philip's look and smiled while the voice laughed. "Yes, I must speak like this as I'm a mute. My tongue was cut out, it was the shock that forged my powers." he said, shrugging.
"I-I'm sorry." Philip said.
"It's alright, I get used to it." he said. The man had longish black hair that almost framed his handsome face, he also had black eyes that matched his hair while his suit was completely white (with no gloves) except for a black, four pointed star on his chest.
Beam stood up from his chair. "Excellent, now we're all acquainted we can get on."
Lynxia x
Philip unlocked the door to the flat and went in. He dropped his bag in the living room and his sister ran in.
"Phily! Phily!" she cried, jumping up and down.
"How many times, Sasha? Don't call me that!" he sighed.
She smiled like only an eleven year old could. "That's why I call you it." she laughed.
Philip was about to respond when his mother rushed in. She held Philip's face in her hands and her eyes dug into his. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" she fussed.
"Why would he be hurt?" Sasha asked from the sofa where she was now watching something on the TV.
"I'm fine." Philip said at the same time.
"Sasha, can you go to your room for a minute?" Philip's mother, Violet, said, looking at his sister.
"Mum!" Sasha wailed.
"Go." Violet said forcefully, pointing out of the room.
Sasha grumbled but, reluctantly, left the room.
"Mum, why did-" Philip began.
"This is dangerous, Philip." his mum interrupted him, her face more stern than he had ever seen it before. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this?" she asked, pacing the room.
"Do I really have a choice now? And why didn't you tell me Dad was involved?" Violet stopped pacing.
"No, I guess you don't have the choice any more." she sighed. "And I didn't tell you about you father because he died doing this and I didn't want to lose you too." she said, looking away from him.
"This Shade guy?" Philip asked.
His mother nodded.
"Dad could fly too, couldn't he?"
She nodded again.
"You could have told me all along, you know." he said.
"I know that now." she sniffed and Philip saw tears rimming her eyes. "Beam said you're meeting the League tomorrow so I want you in bed early. From what your father said, they're an... Odd bunch." she said, wiped her eyes and left the room.
Philip looked out of the small window as the silence flooded in. He could see the tops of other blocks of flats and the cold, grey sky above them. "Superheroes..." he muttered, thinking.
***
Philip's mother left at half past seven the next morning, taking Sasha to school and then going to her new day job.
Philip dressed simply, as it was sunny - jeans, a T-shirt and trainers - then went and waited outside. He had been waiting for only a few minutes when Pixel walked up, despite the sun, she was wearing a long coat that was fastened all the way up. Her hands were gloved in what looked like lycra and he could see black boots underneath the coat.
She saw his odd look at the coat. "It's covering up my suit." she explained.
"Uh, suit?" he asked.
"Suit, supersuit." she said as if talking to a six year old.
"Oh, right, but couldn't you get changed when you're there?" he asked.
"The meeting starts at about the time we'll get there and my suit has plastic in it. Plastic! It takes me about an hour to get it on while everyone else's are just lycra and slip on." she grumbled whilst looking at her gloved hand with slight hate. "Anyway, we better get going." she said and started walking again, Philip falling into step beside her.
They walked into the station a few minutes later where they boarded the train amid numerous odd looks that were thrown at Pixel. Philip could tell she was close to snapping and the next person to give her a funny look would get God-knows-what thrown at them. She sat down, muttering darkly about the suit.
Philip decided it would be best not to speak.
They looked at the blurs that were trees, bushes and houses as they went passed. They slowed down as they pulled into the Redbrook station and more passengers piled on, only one of whom did not give Pixel an odd look. Philip tried to see their face but it was covered by a flap of black hair, he could just make out one, grey eye.
The train carried on and quickly arrived at the high-rise station. Pixel all but ran from the train and they got into the elevator with seven other people.
The elevator went down first where seven people left, then up to the top floor where two people left, down to the ninth floor where the last two left and finally up to ten where Pixel and Philip climbed out.
"Alleluia. Pixel muttered and removed the coat and placed it on a coat stand by the lift that was otherwise empty. Pixel grumbled something that sounded like 'Lucky sods' then closed her eyes and Philip noticed the design on her suit.
It was pitch black and tight fitting. Green light pulsed from the fingertips of the gloves now. The design was the same as on her console - parallel lines and circles. The luminous green energy finished flooding the design and Philip saw that a 'P' had been made on the chest with two lines and a circle, these shapes pulsed white. Philip started in amazing.
"Oh my God." Philip managed.
Pixel sighed and opened her eyes. "It's too flashy, I hate it's start up."
"Won't someone see your suit though?" he asked.
"Yeah, but all this floor belongs to HATE so nobody will care." she said, leading the way to the windowless corridor.
"Has everyone gotta wear their suits?" Philip wondered aloud.
"Yeah, the suits with no plastic!" she grumbled, flicking part of her suit that echoed with a dull thud. "Hang on." she said and placed her hand on the wood panel. "Authorisation code: Alpha-two-three-oh-four. Clearance number: Seven-two-nine-oh-two-three. Name: Pixel." she said into the speaker. The panel slid away and they went into the hidden elevator beyond, Philip pressed the black button and the started to descend.
When it opened onto the NASA-like control room, a man in a lab coat stepped over and handed Philip a burgundy package. "Beam said to give you this." he said and walked away.
"What?! Really?!! I had to wait three weeks to get my suit and you get yours on your second day?!!?" she said.
"M-My suit?" Philip said and shook out the material. It was burgundy in colour with a deep red line running down the sides on the arms, legs and sides. There was a triangle on the chest which was outline but was the shades of fire. In the centre of the triangle was a gold, lightning shaped 'F'. A pair of dark red boots to match the stripes fell from the bundle.
"That's nice." Pixel admitted. "Oh, and look - no plastic!" she added bitterly.
Philip was speechless.
"Come on, there's a toilet near the conference room, you can get changed there." she said and went through the door by the stairs and turned left. Philip followed her down the corridor as she turned right. He made a mental note of the corners taken. Right again, straight ahead, then left and finally right again. Pixel pointed at a metal door marked '94A'. "There you go." she said.
Philip went in and quickly changed, swapping his jeans, trainers and T-shirt for the for the light weight suit. He bundled up his normal clothes and carried them under his arm as he left the toilet.
He walked out, inspecting the lycra and how it moved freely.
Pixel arched an eyebrow. "I have to admit, you look good." she said.
Philip looked up and smiled.
"Don't get cocky." she warned and knocked on a set of dark wood double doors at the end of the corridor.
"Who is it?" called a sing-song voice on the other side.
"It's a-me, a-Mario." Pixel said as she went in and Philip followed.
"Mario! You've lost weight!" a boy with light brown hair and pale blue eyes exclaimed.
"You're so funny, Morph." Pixel said sarcastically, sitting opposite but one to the boy. Philip stood by the door, not quite sure what to do.
"I am, aren't I." Morph said, smiling.
"It's called sarcasm but maybe you're tiny brain can't understand anything over one syllable." Pixel replied.
"Oh, get a room you two." a boy said who looked like Morph but younger and with light, gingery hair from next to him.
Two thing happened then. Crackling, green lightning arced from Pixel's fingers and bounced across the long, oval table and hit the boy in the chest, shocking him, and Morph hit him with a hand shaped like a spade, sending him flying from his chair. The other people in the room laughed (one of them silently), except Shimmer, Beam and Philip. Beam sighed, Shimmer rolled her eyes and Philip stepped back in horror as the boy climbed back into his seat.
"Take a seat, Falcon." Beam said from the head of the table. Philip took the only available chair, between Jess and a young man dressed all in white.
"Before we begin, I think we should all get acquainted. You clearly know I'm Beam with the ability to control light." he continued, gesturing to himself.He was wearing the yellow jumpsuit, without the lab coat, and on the chest, a black and white circle enclosed an orange 'B'. He nodded to the woman on his right to carry on.
"My name is Chameleon. I can turn invisible." she said. She wore a short sleeved suit, unlike everyone else, and it was different shades of green and had different plates like scales. A selection of about seven tiles on her chest were all different, bright colours. Chameleon's hair was chestnut brown and her eyes were dark and seemed to change colour.
Next to her sat a woman with very pale, blonde hair that was almost white. Her skin was also pale and her eyes were a quiet, calm grey, yet they still seemed to stare into you. Her suit was a light grey with a large, pale blue 'V' stretching out along most of her torso. "I am Void." she said in an accent that identified her as have gone to Oxford. "I can teleport." she finished. She looked at the teenage boy sitting next to her.
Kyle smiled. "Haze, control of fire." he said. He wore a simple red jumpsuit with black gloves and a large flame design on his chest.
Next to him was Pixel who nodded. "Pixel, I have control of electricity and technology." she said.
Sitting on Pixel's right, and closest to the door on that side, was Shimmer. She was dressed in blue with white cloves and what looked like white lightning spreading over her suit. On her chest was a white circle with a pale purple edge and a rounded 'S' in the middle of the same colour. "I'm Shimmer, as you know, and I have the power to create force fields." she spoke in a level, calm voice and her look passed on the introductions to Morph.
"I'm Morph," he said.
Pixel faked a coughing fit and said 'prick' in the middle of it.
Morph glared and carried on. "I can change into anything I want."
"The boy sitting next to Morph spoke up. "I am, unfortunately, Morph's younger brother by around two years and my name is Focus. I can make you believe anything I want, like did you know, this table is made from cake?" he said soothingly. Philip looked at the table, why hadn't he noticed it before? He was about to pull some off when Focus said "You don't wanna do that, it's not really cake." he said and Philip snapped out of it. Both Focus and Morph wore dark blue suits with black arms and boots with no gloves. The only difference was Morph's suit had a large white 'M' while Focus' had a large white 'F'. They also had the same eyes and tanned skin.
Next to Focus was Jess who smiled at him. "Vines, control over plants." she said simply. She wore a light green jumpsuit with yellow vine shapes weaving up the arms and formed a 'V' on her chest.
Everyone looked at Philip. They already knew each other, they had just been waiting to get to him.
He gulped.
"I'm Falcon and I can fly." he said. A few eyes widened and he heard Morph whisper 'Dragonfly's son' to Focus.
Beam coughed and everyone stopped looking at Philip as he looked at the young man next to him.
The man nodded and Philip heard a voice in his head. "Hello, I'm Probe. A telepath and I also have a few telekinetic powers." it said. Philip realised it must be the man next to him 'talking'. The man saw Philip's look and smiled while the voice laughed. "Yes, I must speak like this as I'm a mute. My tongue was cut out, it was the shock that forged my powers." he said, shrugging.
"I-I'm sorry." Philip said.
"It's alright, I get used to it." he said. The man had longish black hair that almost framed his handsome face, he also had black eyes that matched his hair while his suit was completely white (with no gloves) except for a black, four pointed star on his chest.
Beam stood up from his chair. "Excellent, now we're all acquainted we can get on."
Lynxia x
Monday 25 June 2012
Day One - Prologue...
Day 42
I travelled into the city today, day time of course, and looked for other survivors. Once again, I did not find any. I did, however, find two more nests which I poisoned, but there was not another living soul in sight. I am now back in the countryside now, which still remains relatively safe, and am holding the perimeter by myself. After Grace was Snatched - I'm not taking any chances.
This is a tiny prologue, even by my standards but I'm pretty proud of it. The clues given set the scene and add that air of mystery that I always try to give in the first few lines. Tell me what you think please!! This idea literally fell into my head during art the other day and I knew I had to use it. Think L4D crossed with Minecraft and that (terrible) film I Am Legend and you get the idea of the story.
Lynxia x
I travelled into the city today, day time of course, and looked for other survivors. Once again, I did not find any. I did, however, find two more nests which I poisoned, but there was not another living soul in sight. I am now back in the countryside now, which still remains relatively safe, and am holding the perimeter by myself. After Grace was Snatched - I'm not taking any chances.
This is a tiny prologue, even by my standards but I'm pretty proud of it. The clues given set the scene and add that air of mystery that I always try to give in the first few lines. Tell me what you think please!! This idea literally fell into my head during art the other day and I knew I had to use it. Think L4D crossed with Minecraft and that (terrible) film I Am Legend and you get the idea of the story.
Lynxia x
Sunday 24 June 2012
Crescent, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 - A New Era and Return Home...
The white, metal table began to pulse green then what appeared to be bolts of green lightening sparked and spread from Pixel's fingers and sunk into the metal. The electricity showed above the metal occasionally as it followed the curve of the table. It illuminated intricate patterns of parallel lines and circles. In these circles, images pixelated in from the edges, became clear and rose into the air, one from each circle and there were about seven circles on the surface of the table. Pixel flicked her left hand and sent all but one of these images into a column on the left side of her console where they floated and moved up or down in order of the line. Her right hand, however, pulled up one image, tapped it twice and it appeared on the large screen.
"Here we are..." Pixel muttered to herself. She zoomed in on the image on the screen, it was a line drawing of the layout of the cavern with red or green dots at certain points. She flicked it around until she found a green dot in the middle of a white block that must have been a room.
"There you go; block C, room four." she said to Shimmer.
"Thanks, Pixie." Shimmer said, smiling and led Philip through the glass door closest to the lift.
Don't call me that!" they heard Pixel shout as the doors closed.
Shimmer laughed quietly and stopped outside a metal door marked '4'. "This is where I leave you. See you around, Falcon." she said and continued down the corridor, turned right and out of sight.
Philip gulped and knocked.
"Mm-hmm?" came the call from inside.
Philip opened the door to find himself in a large, yet rather plain, room.
It's padded floor was bouncy and made from some sort of cream coloured foam. The walls were a pale wood panelling and when Philip looked up he saw the ceiling was padded too..
"This used to be where your father trained. He added all the foam as he wasn't the most... Coordinated at first." Beam said from the centre of the room where he was sitting cross-legged on the foam floor. "Come sit down, Falcon, I need to talk to you about control." he said, looking at Philip.
Philip shut the door and sat on the floor next to Beam.
"Right, Dragonfly - your father - told me that memories or feelings can control your power. I've never found that it worked with another power, just flight so far."
"He could fly too?" Philip asked.
Beam nodded. "We think the powers may be genetic but they often skip a generation, like with Shimmer. There was no power in her family until her and before her was her great-great-grandmother. Anyway, your father said that happy memories could make you fly, take off or whatever while sad or hurtful memories would make you 'fall like a rock', as he said, so don't think of anything too bad." Beam warned. "When you don't think you need the memories any more, try without but I don't think that will be for a while. So, give it a go." he said.
"Um, right, okay." Philip said, a little unsure and self-concious. He tried to think of a happy memory and decide on something recent - the look on Andrew's face when Kyle had exposed him. Philip felt himself leave the floor and start to rise, slowly at first then gathering speed and a few seconds later his head bumped into the padded ceiling.
"And back down." Beam said.
Philip chose a bad memory from the pool that always lurked at the back of his mind. The one he chose was when he had first arrived at JMA and discovered he was the subject of most of the jokes. Philip dropped quickly and landed roughly in a heap on the floor. "Ow..." he groaned.
"I think that memory was a little to strong." Beam said, smiling slightly. "Anyway, you'll be fine but you should get going - it's nearly half six and you're mother will be worried."
"Half six? I was out cold for a while." Philip said, standing up and rubbing his head then he remembered. "Half six?! I've got to revise for an exam tomorrow!"
"No, you won't need to do the exam, you've got to come in for training tomorrow." he said, smiling fully now. "You'll need sleep however so get going." Beam said and stood up too.
Philip shook Beam's hand then opened the door and walked back the way Shimmer had led him, a small spring in his step.
Philip walked down the straight corridor and back into the main cavern. Everyone was still working on their computers and tablets. He was walking towards the lift when Pixel called called to him.
"Falcon, hey, wait a sec. Let me just finish up and I'll be right over, I've gotta go back to Hayfield too." she said. She flicked some images round in a seemingly random order then called to someone below. "Doctor McGregor, I'm giving you control." she said, tapped her console and the green light faded while a man sitting at one of the computers nodded.
Pixel ran over and got in the lift with him. "Where about in the Haystack do you come from?" she asked, pressing the black button.
"How do you know I come from Hayfield?" he asked then instantly regretted it - it made him sound stupid.
"Really? You're asking me that? Well, A: your accent and B: I read your file." she said with arched eyebrows.
"I should've guessed." he mumbled.
"Yeah, you should have." she said as the elevator opened onto the windowless passage. "Anyway, which part of the Haystack?"
"Um, Riverside," he said. "Well, Rose Street." he corrected.
"That still classes as Riverside, I think." she said, walking with confidence through the maze of corridors and into an opening with another set of elevators, except these were not hidden. "I come from Central. Rough place, not fun." she said as she got into the elevator on the left.
Philip got in next to her and she pushed the button for floor seven. "So, do your family know anything about the power, tech, thingy." he asked.
"My ability? No, it's just me, my dad and his mum now, they don't know anything about it. I don't know what happened to my mum and they don't talk about it but I think she mught have had abilities, apparently it's genetic." she said.
"Yeah, Beam said otherwise I would have to put it down to radioactive mutations or aliens or something."
Pixel laughed. "Yeah, aliens shot us all with some kind of mutation ray."
Philip joined in laughing as the elevator door opened. They were in one of the skyscraper stations. At the moment they were in the lobby, it had two large, black, metal desks at the end of the hall on Philip's right and at the other end was a set of large glass doors that clearly led to the waiting platform. There were small shops that lined the walls and rows of seats in the centre of the hall. The large clock above the timetable which was behind the desks chimed a quarter to seven.
Pixel walked left towards the doors and Philip followed. "You got your train card?" she asked.
Philip patted down his pockets. "Uh, no." he said.
"Okay, come over here." Pixel said and led him over to a ticket machine. She reached out her right hand and placed it on the screen. "This would be easier with Probe here." she muttered. "Right, picture your card in your mind." she said and placed her finger on his forehead.
He pictured the annual train pass in his mind; the light blue card, his picture showing his dark, mousy hair, icy green eyes and pale skin, everything, right down to the small rip on the top left hand corner.
Pixel closed her eyes and a moment later an exact replica of his train card whirred out of the machine. She pulled it out and handed it to him and opening her eyes again. "There you go."
Philip took the ticket. "Wow, thanks." he said.
"No probs." she replied and walked out through the doors. Philip went outside too just as the monorail-style train pulled up. The platform was just a small landing of metal with ticket scanners and glass fences. He crossed the few metres of metal, scanned the ticket and got onto the train.
He sat besides Pixel and away from the other passengers as she placed her ticket back in her pocket. "You coming in for training tomorrow?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
"'Cause we're having a League meeting tomorrow. You'll get to meet the rest of us 'supers'." she made the marks in the air around the word.
"Yay?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
She laughed. "Oh, you're gonna fit right in." she said.
"Yeah, if I can find my way back." he said, as the train stopped at the Redbrook station.
"Oh, right, you won't know the way. No matter, I'll walk down to Riverside and wait for you." she said.
"Thanks, that'd be great." he replied as the train went underground.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want you to have to go through what I did. I got lost three times before I found my way." she remembered.
"Ouch." The doors dinged open and Pixel and Philip got off.
"Mm-hmm, not fun. Especially when it was Morph who found me." she continued as they walked down Riverside.
"Morph?" Philip asked as they turned onto his street.
"Yeah, him and his brother are both self-centred pricks but you'll have the joy of meeting them tomorrow." she said. "See ya." she called over her shoulder as she carried on walking as he opened the door to his block of flats.
Lynxia x
"Here we are..." Pixel muttered to herself. She zoomed in on the image on the screen, it was a line drawing of the layout of the cavern with red or green dots at certain points. She flicked it around until she found a green dot in the middle of a white block that must have been a room.
"There you go; block C, room four." she said to Shimmer.
"Thanks, Pixie." Shimmer said, smiling and led Philip through the glass door closest to the lift.
Don't call me that!" they heard Pixel shout as the doors closed.
Shimmer laughed quietly and stopped outside a metal door marked '4'. "This is where I leave you. See you around, Falcon." she said and continued down the corridor, turned right and out of sight.
Philip gulped and knocked.
"Mm-hmm?" came the call from inside.
Philip opened the door to find himself in a large, yet rather plain, room.
It's padded floor was bouncy and made from some sort of cream coloured foam. The walls were a pale wood panelling and when Philip looked up he saw the ceiling was padded too..
"This used to be where your father trained. He added all the foam as he wasn't the most... Coordinated at first." Beam said from the centre of the room where he was sitting cross-legged on the foam floor. "Come sit down, Falcon, I need to talk to you about control." he said, looking at Philip.
Philip shut the door and sat on the floor next to Beam.
"Right, Dragonfly - your father - told me that memories or feelings can control your power. I've never found that it worked with another power, just flight so far."
"He could fly too?" Philip asked.
Beam nodded. "We think the powers may be genetic but they often skip a generation, like with Shimmer. There was no power in her family until her and before her was her great-great-grandmother. Anyway, your father said that happy memories could make you fly, take off or whatever while sad or hurtful memories would make you 'fall like a rock', as he said, so don't think of anything too bad." Beam warned. "When you don't think you need the memories any more, try without but I don't think that will be for a while. So, give it a go." he said.
"Um, right, okay." Philip said, a little unsure and self-concious. He tried to think of a happy memory and decide on something recent - the look on Andrew's face when Kyle had exposed him. Philip felt himself leave the floor and start to rise, slowly at first then gathering speed and a few seconds later his head bumped into the padded ceiling.
"And back down." Beam said.
Philip chose a bad memory from the pool that always lurked at the back of his mind. The one he chose was when he had first arrived at JMA and discovered he was the subject of most of the jokes. Philip dropped quickly and landed roughly in a heap on the floor. "Ow..." he groaned.
"I think that memory was a little to strong." Beam said, smiling slightly. "Anyway, you'll be fine but you should get going - it's nearly half six and you're mother will be worried."
"Half six? I was out cold for a while." Philip said, standing up and rubbing his head then he remembered. "Half six?! I've got to revise for an exam tomorrow!"
"No, you won't need to do the exam, you've got to come in for training tomorrow." he said, smiling fully now. "You'll need sleep however so get going." Beam said and stood up too.
Philip shook Beam's hand then opened the door and walked back the way Shimmer had led him, a small spring in his step.
Chapter 7 - Return Home...
Philip walked down the straight corridor and back into the main cavern. Everyone was still working on their computers and tablets. He was walking towards the lift when Pixel called called to him.
"Falcon, hey, wait a sec. Let me just finish up and I'll be right over, I've gotta go back to Hayfield too." she said. She flicked some images round in a seemingly random order then called to someone below. "Doctor McGregor, I'm giving you control." she said, tapped her console and the green light faded while a man sitting at one of the computers nodded.
Pixel ran over and got in the lift with him. "Where about in the Haystack do you come from?" she asked, pressing the black button.
"How do you know I come from Hayfield?" he asked then instantly regretted it - it made him sound stupid.
"Really? You're asking me that? Well, A: your accent and B: I read your file." she said with arched eyebrows.
"I should've guessed." he mumbled.
"Yeah, you should have." she said as the elevator opened onto the windowless passage. "Anyway, which part of the Haystack?"
"Um, Riverside," he said. "Well, Rose Street." he corrected.
"That still classes as Riverside, I think." she said, walking with confidence through the maze of corridors and into an opening with another set of elevators, except these were not hidden. "I come from Central. Rough place, not fun." she said as she got into the elevator on the left.
Philip got in next to her and she pushed the button for floor seven. "So, do your family know anything about the power, tech, thingy." he asked.
"My ability? No, it's just me, my dad and his mum now, they don't know anything about it. I don't know what happened to my mum and they don't talk about it but I think she mught have had abilities, apparently it's genetic." she said.
"Yeah, Beam said otherwise I would have to put it down to radioactive mutations or aliens or something."
Pixel laughed. "Yeah, aliens shot us all with some kind of mutation ray."
Philip joined in laughing as the elevator door opened. They were in one of the skyscraper stations. At the moment they were in the lobby, it had two large, black, metal desks at the end of the hall on Philip's right and at the other end was a set of large glass doors that clearly led to the waiting platform. There were small shops that lined the walls and rows of seats in the centre of the hall. The large clock above the timetable which was behind the desks chimed a quarter to seven.
Pixel walked left towards the doors and Philip followed. "You got your train card?" she asked.
Philip patted down his pockets. "Uh, no." he said.
"Okay, come over here." Pixel said and led him over to a ticket machine. She reached out her right hand and placed it on the screen. "This would be easier with Probe here." she muttered. "Right, picture your card in your mind." she said and placed her finger on his forehead.
He pictured the annual train pass in his mind; the light blue card, his picture showing his dark, mousy hair, icy green eyes and pale skin, everything, right down to the small rip on the top left hand corner.
Pixel closed her eyes and a moment later an exact replica of his train card whirred out of the machine. She pulled it out and handed it to him and opening her eyes again. "There you go."
Philip took the ticket. "Wow, thanks." he said.
"No probs." she replied and walked out through the doors. Philip went outside too just as the monorail-style train pulled up. The platform was just a small landing of metal with ticket scanners and glass fences. He crossed the few metres of metal, scanned the ticket and got onto the train.
He sat besides Pixel and away from the other passengers as she placed her ticket back in her pocket. "You coming in for training tomorrow?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
"'Cause we're having a League meeting tomorrow. You'll get to meet the rest of us 'supers'." she made the marks in the air around the word.
"Yay?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
She laughed. "Oh, you're gonna fit right in." she said.
"Yeah, if I can find my way back." he said, as the train stopped at the Redbrook station.
"Oh, right, you won't know the way. No matter, I'll walk down to Riverside and wait for you." she said.
"Thanks, that'd be great." he replied as the train went underground.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want you to have to go through what I did. I got lost three times before I found my way." she remembered.
"Ouch." The doors dinged open and Pixel and Philip got off.
"Mm-hmm, not fun. Especially when it was Morph who found me." she continued as they walked down Riverside.
"Morph?" Philip asked as they turned onto his street.
"Yeah, him and his brother are both self-centred pricks but you'll have the joy of meeting them tomorrow." she said. "See ya." she called over her shoulder as she carried on walking as he opened the door to his block of flats.
Lynxia x
Saturday 23 June 2012
By Force, Prologue and Chapter 1 - When The Silence Came...
Alec sat by the window. It was raining. Again. So here he was, sitting inside during lunch and staring at the rain. He was watching the storm clouds that were rolling across the sky when a flash of sheet lightning lit the sky. He saw it then, outlined behind the clouds, a large black shadow. It was of a smooth design and neon blue light seamed the edges, making it look like it was glowing. Alec blinked and it was gone. He shook his head and put it down to his imagination and picked up his bag as the bell rang three times and the speaker system came on.
"The school's boiler room has flooded so it is with deepest regret that I must send you home." said the voice of Mrs Smith, the headteacher, crackling through the old speakers.
A cheer went up inside the classroom as everyone headed for the exit. Alec followed, preparing for the worst of the rain.
A group of chattering girls pushed past in the corridor, among them was Veronika Polovski. She smiled at him then was swept away with the other girls, through the door at the end of the corridor and into the yard beyond. Alec didn't know many people at the school - he had been there for only six weeks after moving to London from Boston - but he knew Veronika. She was the nicest person at the school, anyone would agree. She had straight black hair that fell to just below her shoulders with a side parting and soft, dark brown eyes which were framed by black glasses. Alec knew only one other person at the school and that was Harvey Chicungwa but he had been ill all that week so had not been in school.
He set of home, knowing his two sisters would already be there as they had half days at the primary on Thursday's, and was thankful he didn't have very far to walk. He left through the main gates of Saint Matthew's High School and walked down Wright Street. When he reached the cross roads he hurried left onto Albamar Road and carried on in a straight line in the downpour. He went underneath the round-a-bout in the subway and finally turned left onto Shrew Way. He went to the fifth house on the street lined with three-storey Georgian houses, each was grey stone with black fencing for no reason by the walls, steps up to the door and large windows. Number five was where Alec lived with his father and two younger sisters.
He opened his door and Louise ran up while Alice pounded down the stairs behind her. His sisters were twins and both had black eyes like their father, while Alec had inherited his mother's blue-green eyes, and long mousy hair like their mother and Alec, except his was paler. Everything about them was identical, right down to their freckles. Alec remembered a couple of months ago when Alice had said whoever had more freckles got to cut their ninth birthday cake and had then tried to count Lou's freckles. It had ended in a fight.
"Alec! Alec! Alice pushed me into your room!" Louise squealed at him.
Alice ran up next to her sister. "Did not, Lou! You went in and I tried to stop you!" Alice said, stamping her foot and glaring at Louise.
"You're lying!" Lou screamed and pushed Alice. Before Alec could do anything they were scratching, pulling hair and kicking each other.
Alec sighed and went to the stairs, same old, same old. He started climbing to the top floor knowing they would be best friends again in a few minutes. He was just so bored with the same things going on every day, day in and day out, he just wanted something different to happen. He had no idea what but he knew he wanted it to be exciting.
"Stop dreaming." he muttered to himself.
Alec sat on the window seat in his room, not really focusing on his biology homework and just staring out at the storm and the street below through the rain streaked windows. Everything seemed quieter for some reason except Lou and Alice who he could still hear bickering downstairs. His father's black car pulled up and Stephen Hunts go out and came in.
"Alec?" he called up the stairs. "Can you come here for a second?"
Alec climbed up from the window seat, knocking the biology book to the floor, and went downstairs as the clock in the hall chimed three o'clock. His dad wasn't usually back early so Alec reasoned something must be wrong.
He was right.
"Alec, I'm not going to be back in until about ten tonight. The office is chaos because of the storm so I have to go back in and help. I want Lou and Alice in bed by nine and you need sleep too." Stephen said, facing Alec. Alec's father was a policeman so by the 'office' he meant the crowded room at the back of the station where they got the calls about stolen wheelie bins and missing cats. Never anything important.
Alec nodded. "'Kay." he said.
"Right, I'll see you later then." his dad said and left.
Alice popped her head round the door to the living room when the front door had snapped shut. "Can we have popcorn then?" she asked, big eyes and fluttering eyelids. She had clearly been listening.
Alec smiled. "Yeah, why not?" he replied and Alice hugged him then went to, probably, choose a film to watch too. He went into the kitchen and put the bag of popcorn into the microwave. He leaned against the island counter and waited as another clap of thunder rumbled in from outside. Alec hear the plates wobble in the cupboards.
Big storm, he thought, hoping the power will stay on. The house got freezing when the electricity went off.
The microwave dinged and he poured the popcorn into a large glass bowl and carried it into the living room.
Alice had chosen the third Harry Potter to watch and it was already playing so Alec sat down on the sofa as Harry's aunt floated out of the conservatory.
The hours passed, one film being played after the next and two bags of popcorn eaten. The fifth film they had watched finished and Alec realised it was five to ten.
He stretched and got up, turning off the DVD player. "Go on, bed now." he said and picked up the bowl and carried it into the kitchen. He placed it in the bowl - he'd wash it in the morning - as Alice and Lou dragged their feet up the stairs whining.
Alec followed them up but actually had no intention of sleeping. He went into his room on the third floor and opened up his laptop. He clicked open the internet and loaded YouTube. He watched anything he could think of, watching whole playlists of some things, and eventually the videos started to melt together. Finally, at a quarter past midnight, Alec fell asleep while his father still had not returned home.
Alec woke to the sound of birds and nothing else. Living in Boston and the London meant he was used to the background noise of sirens, horns and general traffic at all times of the day and night but now he heard none of this.
He opened his eyes, rubbed them and looked at the clock on his bedside table. Eleven o'clock. He closed the still running laptop and got up. He couldn't remember his dad coming in so he went to the floor below and knocked on his father's door.
"Dad?" he asked.
No response.
Alec opened he door and looked in. There was the picture of his mother on the bedside table, everything neat on the shelves and nothing out of place.
But no father.
Puzzled, Alec went to the ground floor. "Dad?" he called again.
No response.
Alec went to the first floor and knocked on Alice and Louise's door. "Alice? Lou?"
"Yeah?" came Lou's voice from the other side of the door.
"Was dad here earlier?" he asked.
The door opened and the twins looked out at him. "Nope," they chorused.
"We've been up since seven," Lou said.
"We would've heard him or seen him." Alice finished.
Alec was now thoroughly confused and slightly worried. "Right, stay in the house and don't let anyone in until I get back." he said and went downstairs.
"Where are you going?" Alice called.
"Out." Alec replied simply, swapping his school shoes for a pair of trainers, pulling off his tie and pulling on his red hoodie then stepping outside into the new eerie quiet of the surrounding suburban area.
What do you think?
Lynxia x
"The school's boiler room has flooded so it is with deepest regret that I must send you home." said the voice of Mrs Smith, the headteacher, crackling through the old speakers.
A cheer went up inside the classroom as everyone headed for the exit. Alec followed, preparing for the worst of the rain.
A group of chattering girls pushed past in the corridor, among them was Veronika Polovski. She smiled at him then was swept away with the other girls, through the door at the end of the corridor and into the yard beyond. Alec didn't know many people at the school - he had been there for only six weeks after moving to London from Boston - but he knew Veronika. She was the nicest person at the school, anyone would agree. She had straight black hair that fell to just below her shoulders with a side parting and soft, dark brown eyes which were framed by black glasses. Alec knew only one other person at the school and that was Harvey Chicungwa but he had been ill all that week so had not been in school.
He set of home, knowing his two sisters would already be there as they had half days at the primary on Thursday's, and was thankful he didn't have very far to walk. He left through the main gates of Saint Matthew's High School and walked down Wright Street. When he reached the cross roads he hurried left onto Albamar Road and carried on in a straight line in the downpour. He went underneath the round-a-bout in the subway and finally turned left onto Shrew Way. He went to the fifth house on the street lined with three-storey Georgian houses, each was grey stone with black fencing for no reason by the walls, steps up to the door and large windows. Number five was where Alec lived with his father and two younger sisters.
He opened his door and Louise ran up while Alice pounded down the stairs behind her. His sisters were twins and both had black eyes like their father, while Alec had inherited his mother's blue-green eyes, and long mousy hair like their mother and Alec, except his was paler. Everything about them was identical, right down to their freckles. Alec remembered a couple of months ago when Alice had said whoever had more freckles got to cut their ninth birthday cake and had then tried to count Lou's freckles. It had ended in a fight.
"Alec! Alec! Alice pushed me into your room!" Louise squealed at him.
Alice ran up next to her sister. "Did not, Lou! You went in and I tried to stop you!" Alice said, stamping her foot and glaring at Louise.
"You're lying!" Lou screamed and pushed Alice. Before Alec could do anything they were scratching, pulling hair and kicking each other.
Alec sighed and went to the stairs, same old, same old. He started climbing to the top floor knowing they would be best friends again in a few minutes. He was just so bored with the same things going on every day, day in and day out, he just wanted something different to happen. He had no idea what but he knew he wanted it to be exciting.
"Stop dreaming." he muttered to himself.
Chapter 1 - When The Silence Came...
Alec sat on the window seat in his room, not really focusing on his biology homework and just staring out at the storm and the street below through the rain streaked windows. Everything seemed quieter for some reason except Lou and Alice who he could still hear bickering downstairs. His father's black car pulled up and Stephen Hunts go out and came in.
"Alec?" he called up the stairs. "Can you come here for a second?"
Alec climbed up from the window seat, knocking the biology book to the floor, and went downstairs as the clock in the hall chimed three o'clock. His dad wasn't usually back early so Alec reasoned something must be wrong.
He was right.
"Alec, I'm not going to be back in until about ten tonight. The office is chaos because of the storm so I have to go back in and help. I want Lou and Alice in bed by nine and you need sleep too." Stephen said, facing Alec. Alec's father was a policeman so by the 'office' he meant the crowded room at the back of the station where they got the calls about stolen wheelie bins and missing cats. Never anything important.
Alec nodded. "'Kay." he said.
"Right, I'll see you later then." his dad said and left.
Alice popped her head round the door to the living room when the front door had snapped shut. "Can we have popcorn then?" she asked, big eyes and fluttering eyelids. She had clearly been listening.
Alec smiled. "Yeah, why not?" he replied and Alice hugged him then went to, probably, choose a film to watch too. He went into the kitchen and put the bag of popcorn into the microwave. He leaned against the island counter and waited as another clap of thunder rumbled in from outside. Alec hear the plates wobble in the cupboards.
Big storm, he thought, hoping the power will stay on. The house got freezing when the electricity went off.
The microwave dinged and he poured the popcorn into a large glass bowl and carried it into the living room.
Alice had chosen the third Harry Potter to watch and it was already playing so Alec sat down on the sofa as Harry's aunt floated out of the conservatory.
The hours passed, one film being played after the next and two bags of popcorn eaten. The fifth film they had watched finished and Alec realised it was five to ten.
He stretched and got up, turning off the DVD player. "Go on, bed now." he said and picked up the bowl and carried it into the kitchen. He placed it in the bowl - he'd wash it in the morning - as Alice and Lou dragged their feet up the stairs whining.
Alec followed them up but actually had no intention of sleeping. He went into his room on the third floor and opened up his laptop. He clicked open the internet and loaded YouTube. He watched anything he could think of, watching whole playlists of some things, and eventually the videos started to melt together. Finally, at a quarter past midnight, Alec fell asleep while his father still had not returned home.
***
Alec woke to the sound of birds and nothing else. Living in Boston and the London meant he was used to the background noise of sirens, horns and general traffic at all times of the day and night but now he heard none of this.
He opened his eyes, rubbed them and looked at the clock on his bedside table. Eleven o'clock. He closed the still running laptop and got up. He couldn't remember his dad coming in so he went to the floor below and knocked on his father's door.
"Dad?" he asked.
No response.
Alec opened he door and looked in. There was the picture of his mother on the bedside table, everything neat on the shelves and nothing out of place.
But no father.
Puzzled, Alec went to the ground floor. "Dad?" he called again.
No response.
Alec went to the first floor and knocked on Alice and Louise's door. "Alice? Lou?"
"Yeah?" came Lou's voice from the other side of the door.
"Was dad here earlier?" he asked.
The door opened and the twins looked out at him. "Nope," they chorused.
"We've been up since seven," Lou said.
"We would've heard him or seen him." Alice finished.
Alec was now thoroughly confused and slightly worried. "Right, stay in the house and don't let anyone in until I get back." he said and went downstairs.
"Where are you going?" Alice called.
"Out." Alec replied simply, swapping his school shoes for a pair of trainers, pulling off his tie and pulling on his red hoodie then stepping outside into the new eerie quiet of the surrounding suburban area.
What do you think?
Lynxia x
Tuesday 12 June 2012
DEREK ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!
*is close to hyperventilating*
The Question:
Derek's Answer:
The Question:
Derek's Answer:
My Response:
Just to clarify, if you have never seen Lord of the Rings, Boromir says you can't just walk into Mordor so I thought Derek must be able to as he is the almighty Golden God and I wanted to know wh he would walk in with and his answer made me laugh so much!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU DEREK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few of my favourite 'Walk into Mordor' memes! Enjoy!!!
Lynxia x
Monday 11 June 2012
A Murderer's Dance - Prologue and Chapter 1...
Okay, so I might have lied an eency, weency, tiny, ickle bit when I said I didn't have any plans for a sequel for One For You. WAIT!! Wait wait wait wait, before you start throwing the rotten fruit and stuff, I wanted to keep it a secret just to see your reactions when it came out. It was just some honest fun, honest. Anyway, I'll post the start but then I'm not posting any more before the end of all the others no matter what you say or do. I've got way too much to write and I'm posting this to keep me motivated. All right? Probably not but I don't really give a shoedingely wadgja watsit.
Prologue
America 11:03 am
Lavender sliced the sandwich in half and picked up one half. She smiled. Everything was quiet, peaceful, tranquil. Just as she liked it. She took a bite from the sandwich. She thought about how people seemed less happy lately. She understood they had the right to be unhappy, after all, the world could be a very unhappy place.
She was caught completely by surprise, one moment she was deep in thought and eating but that changed when the door shot off its hinges and two people dressed all in black and with blurred faces stormed in. She dropped her meal and morphed into a large, growling dog. She pounced but one of the people injected something into her leg. It dragged her baack into human form and the other smashed her chair on her head. She was unconcious before she hit the floor.
America 11:03 am
Cece did another lap of the pool. Swimming took her mind off things. The world, the battle, Titan, her sister. She shook her head and carried on. She didn't want to think about them. So much had changed, but to Cece, not much of it mattered without her sister. Sure, she had Sheldon but loosing her sister had been like loosing part of herself. She heard movement behind her. She hadn't seen anyone enter so she turned round to look only to find there was nothing there. She turned and carried on but found herself dragged from the pool by rough hands. Someone tied something over her mouth and they took her away.
Spain 11:37 pm
Nicholas said something to the man behind the counter in fractured Spanish. For his trouble, all he got was a blank look. Nicholas consulted his English to Spanish dictionary. Maybe he had said 'elephants' instead of 'thank you'. He wasn't sure so he nodded once, collected the newspaper and went outside. It was a humid night, a few drunk people staggering around the streets. Nicholas couldn't sleep though, he could get called in at any time. Sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford.
He turned onto a side street leading off the main cobbled road and was faced with a man, dressed all in black standing in the middle of the pavement. He went to move around the man but the person grabbed him by his shirt. Nicholas looked into his face but found he couldn't focus on it. Magic, he thought.
Nicholas said something in Spanish that he hoped was 'Who are you?' but it could have been 'I have lost your grandmother's socks'.
The man grunted and head butted him. Nicholas's eyes rolled and he feel into unconsciousness.
Australia 8:07 am
Eve watched the chicken.
The chicken watched Eve.
Eve reached through the mesh gate and picked it up by its neck. "Hello." she crooned, patting its head. The chicken fought to escape but Eve laughed. She stood up and turned back to the house. She took a step but only collided with someone dressed in black. This person shoved a bag over her head and bundled her into a car. In all the commotion the chicken had died. What a waste, Eve thought.
Australia 8:37 am
Sparky looked at the robes. Sure, being an Elder was fun but the robes were hideous. The picked them up and held them up to the light. She was thinking about 'forgetting' her robes again when she saw something move in the mirror in the corner of her eye. She faced the mirror and could only gasp as someone dressed all in black sunk a syringe into her leg. Everything blurred and the the person carried away without making a single sound.
Australia 8:37 am
Nixion felt something land on his face. He opened one eye as another drip fell from the ceiling. Great, he thought, I've got a leak. he rolled out of bed and checked the time. Twenty to nine, he decided it was too early to do anything but he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He got up and went to the kitchen, it was still a mess. He told himself he'd tidy it. Someday. He poured himself a glass of water and raised it to his lips when he heard the faintest shuffle behind him.
He turned, chucked the glass and it smashed on the head of someone dressed all in black. Nixion tried to focus on his face but found he couldn't. He cursed magic under his breath. Another figure entered the kitchen from the hall, again dressed in black and a face he couldn't focus on. He reached for his machete then remembered it was still upstairs so he pulled out a carving knife instead. One of the people lunge and he brought the meat knife across his stomach, red leaking and staining his black clothes. The other came from Nixion's left but he elbowed the side of his head, kicked his shin and punched his gut before he could make a move.
Nixion ran from the house and ran down the street. He reached the end but didn't stop running.
England 11:37 pm
Nixion felt something land on his face. He opened one eye as another drip fell from the ceiling. Great, he thought, I've got a leak. he rolled out of bed and checked the time. Twenty to nine, he decided it was too early to do anything but he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He got up and went to the kitchen, it was still a mess. He told himself he'd tidy it. Someday. He poured himself a glass of water and raised it to his lips when he heard the faintest shuffle behind him.
He turned, chucked the glass and it smashed on the head of someone dressed all in black. Nixion tried to focus on his face but found he couldn't. He cursed magic under his breath. Another figure entered the kitchen from the hall, again dressed in black and a face he couldn't focus on. He reached for his machete then remembered it was still upstairs so he pulled out a carving knife instead. One of the people lunge and he brought the meat knife across his stomach, red leaking and staining his black clothes. The other came from Nixion's left but he elbowed the side of his head, kicked his shin and punched his gut before he could make a move.
Nixion ran from the house and ran down the street. He reached the end but didn't stop running.
England 11:37 pm
The woman ran between the looming walls of boxes and shelves. This place was like a maze but she knew her way round. Bare bulbs lit the intersections and cast long shadows into the aisles.
"Just leave me alone!" came the man's voice from a few rows over. She took a right at the next intersection and headed towards the voice. The woman could have got him at any time but she rarely got a person who wanted to play cat and mouse so she humoured him.
The woman turned onto the aisle and the man was leaning against a shelf, panting.
"Hello Benny." she said, taking a few steps towards the man. He was dressed in tattered clothes and was unshaven, probably because she had been chasing him for a couple of weeks.
"How- How do you know my name? Just stay away she-demon." he screeched, raising a fist as if to hit her.
"I've read your file, Benny, I know everything about you and I can't leave you alone. I've already been paid." she replied sweetly, only two feet away now and drawing a knife and let it gleam in the dull light.
"I've told her, I won't tell anyone!! Not a word about her and Thomas." he said.
"You know, I actually don't care what you've told her. I'm just here to do my job." she said raising her arm for a stab to his gut. "Any last requests?" she asked innocently.
"Who the Hell are you?!" he screamed.
"I am Lynxia Lost." she said, smiling like she wasn't about to kill him then the smile dropped and the woman was all business. "Bye bye Benny." she said and drove the knife into his stomach. She drew her mark on his cheek as he struggled for breath and turned and walked away, the smile creeping back onto her lips as the man choked on his own blood.
Chapter 1, Part 1 - Social Call...
It had been three years since Vengeance had been locked away. Since then, not much had happened. We had all kept in contact, that was about it. Me and Nix were still together except I often had to travel but I always made time to go Down Under. I kept in touch with my brother who remained our link to the mortal world and he was always eager to her what was happening in our 'world within a world'. Sheldon had finally got over Linden and him and Cece were now engaged. That's it. We all carried on doing our jobs, Ivy's being avoiding authority, and just getting on with our magically extended lives.
I had just finished my work for the day and was curling up on the sofa with some ice cream and a book when there was a knock at the door. I sighed, put my stuff down and got up. I went to the door and tapped the screen so I could see who was out there.
The screen showed an empty corridor.
I opened the door and looked left and right. Only Mrs Hensworth was walking down.
"Are you OK, my dear? You look worried." she said, her wrinkled hands tapping my face.
"Fine, as usual." I said, slightly puzzled.
"I'd love to stop and chat, but I really have to go Lydia." she said and went to her flat and went in.
She always got my name wrong. One day I'd be Lydia, then I'd be Lisa and once, much to my displeasure, I'd been Linden.
I sat back down when I heard movement upstairs. Oh, for God's sake! Can't I have one normal day? I wondered. It's your own fault, you chose to study magic, I snapped back at myself. I went upstairs. Night and Mist were curled round the top banister of the spiral stair case, as usual but there was now a photo frame on the floor. I picked it up. It showed me, Ivy, Nix, Zath, Robin, Sparky, Flame and Eve when we were about fourteen in Blogland. We all seemed happy. Carefree, all most. I put it back on the side table and moved on. I checked my bedroom. Nothing, just my iPod charging in the corner. I loved my iPod. Everyone made fun of it because it was a Generation 2 and really old but I still loved it. I checked the bathroom. Nothing. Everything where it should be. I reached the end of the corridor and placed my ear to the door of my study. Inside I could hear faint, muffled foot steps as they walked round. Someone was in my study. A someone who was soon going to be in a whole lot of pain if I had my way.
I charged in and used the shadows to close in on the person.
The person shouted a little and wriggled until I forced them into a chair and held a craft knife to their throat. I let the shadows fall back and a familiar face stared up at me.
"Can I get up, please?" Nixion Strange said. "This is important."
Well...? Is it OK? I'll be getting back on track with everything else now but I just wanted to get this out there...
Lynxia x
Sunday 10 June 2012
Crescent, Chapter 5 - Headquarters...
After Beam had left, Philip concentrated on lowering himself back onto the bed. After a few minutes of hard concentration he managed to flop back onto the hospital bed, the springs adjusting to the new weight, and almost instantly a woman of about twenty five, dressed in a lab coat and jeans and a T-shirt came in. Her auburn hair was tied back of her pale face and her brown eyes shimmered with warmth but she looked formal and business like as well. She had turned the beeping machines off and undid the straps tying him down.
"It seems you have control, come with me." she had said and led him through the doors into a wood panelled corridor. She had shown him a bathroom, handed him a blue T-shirt, some jeans and a pair of trainers and left so he could change out of his tattered school uniform. A few minutes later he had gone back into the corridor, shoving the uniform in his school bag that she had handed him, and followed her round a maze of corridors at a brisk pace. After a few minutes of walking, she turned onto a corridor with no windows of doors, just oil and pastel paintings in frames. She placed a hand on a wood panel at the side of the corridor, it looked the same as the others to Philip, and the outline of her hand glowed blue on its surface. A speaker opened in the wood by her hand.
"Authorisation code: Alpha-two-three-oh-four. Clearance number: Two-oh-two-five-six-nine. Name: Shimmer." she said clearly. The hand printed flashed green and faded. Shimmer removed her hand from the wall and a doorway to a mirrored lift opened. She gestured for him to go first so he stepped into the lift.
The lift had two buttons. One was black, which Shimmer pressed, and the other was red with a key slot in it. The lift started going down, slowly at first but soon picking up pace. When it past below ground level, the mirrors faded into windows.
What Philip could see out of the windows was a metal room, the size of a large cinema. The lift was on one of the walls of what looked like an oversized NASA headquarters, only bigger and with more technology that was up-to-date too. On the right of the still descending lift and on the front wall was what looked like a large cinema screen which showed a main video of a news network but will smaller images around the edges, they seemed to be monitoring networks from across the world. Leading up to the screen but on a downwards slope were about a hundred rows of computers, people sat at these computers; tapping the touch screens of the computers and the keyboards and, occasionally, dragging something from the screen onto a tablet and going to show someone else. The back of the cavern held a raised balcony which Philip could not see underneath but he suspected it was doors as there were three glass doors at the back of the balcony and one across the room from the lift and by the stairs. The front of the balcony faced the screen had a slightly curved chrome table on it which had nothing on it.
The lift stopped and Shimmer led him out. Philip was still looking round when Shimmer stopped by the table, placed a finger on it and waited.
After about a minute, the door by the stairs banged open and a very angry looking girl of about Philip's age of fourteen stormed in.
"Why," she screeched "Did you touch my console?!!" she pointed at Shimmer, her teeth bared. Her black hair was streaked with luminous green, her eyes were like pools of of ink, glittering too, and her chest heaved, sucking in air as if she had just ran a marathon.
"To get your attention, Pixel." Shimmer said, removing her finger from the table.
"Don't touch my console." Pixel snarled, standing in front of the table fondly.
Shimmer sighed. "Pixel, this is Falcon. Did Beam mention which room he was training him in?" she asked.
Pixel looked at Philip with glittering, searching eyes. He held out his hand to shake. "Beam said you're the one to thank for getting my mum that day job." he said.
She looked at his hand cautiously then shook it. "Yeah, that's me. It didn't take much. The guy only had two firewalls and a nano virus." she laughed and Philip noticed she had a Hayfield accent. She let go of his hand and went to the table. Philip looked at Shimmer.
Nano virus? his expression asked.
Shimmer shrugged.
Pixel placed her hands over the table, a few centimetres above it. "Nope, he didn't mention it but I can find it." She spread her fingers and placed her hands on the table. "Let's get this party started, shall we?"
Lynxia x
"It seems you have control, come with me." she had said and led him through the doors into a wood panelled corridor. She had shown him a bathroom, handed him a blue T-shirt, some jeans and a pair of trainers and left so he could change out of his tattered school uniform. A few minutes later he had gone back into the corridor, shoving the uniform in his school bag that she had handed him, and followed her round a maze of corridors at a brisk pace. After a few minutes of walking, she turned onto a corridor with no windows of doors, just oil and pastel paintings in frames. She placed a hand on a wood panel at the side of the corridor, it looked the same as the others to Philip, and the outline of her hand glowed blue on its surface. A speaker opened in the wood by her hand.
"Authorisation code: Alpha-two-three-oh-four. Clearance number: Two-oh-two-five-six-nine. Name: Shimmer." she said clearly. The hand printed flashed green and faded. Shimmer removed her hand from the wall and a doorway to a mirrored lift opened. She gestured for him to go first so he stepped into the lift.
The lift had two buttons. One was black, which Shimmer pressed, and the other was red with a key slot in it. The lift started going down, slowly at first but soon picking up pace. When it past below ground level, the mirrors faded into windows.
What Philip could see out of the windows was a metal room, the size of a large cinema. The lift was on one of the walls of what looked like an oversized NASA headquarters, only bigger and with more technology that was up-to-date too. On the right of the still descending lift and on the front wall was what looked like a large cinema screen which showed a main video of a news network but will smaller images around the edges, they seemed to be monitoring networks from across the world. Leading up to the screen but on a downwards slope were about a hundred rows of computers, people sat at these computers; tapping the touch screens of the computers and the keyboards and, occasionally, dragging something from the screen onto a tablet and going to show someone else. The back of the cavern held a raised balcony which Philip could not see underneath but he suspected it was doors as there were three glass doors at the back of the balcony and one across the room from the lift and by the stairs. The front of the balcony faced the screen had a slightly curved chrome table on it which had nothing on it.
The lift stopped and Shimmer led him out. Philip was still looking round when Shimmer stopped by the table, placed a finger on it and waited.
After about a minute, the door by the stairs banged open and a very angry looking girl of about Philip's age of fourteen stormed in.
"Why," she screeched "Did you touch my console?!!" she pointed at Shimmer, her teeth bared. Her black hair was streaked with luminous green, her eyes were like pools of of ink, glittering too, and her chest heaved, sucking in air as if she had just ran a marathon.
"To get your attention, Pixel." Shimmer said, removing her finger from the table.
"Don't touch my console." Pixel snarled, standing in front of the table fondly.
Shimmer sighed. "Pixel, this is Falcon. Did Beam mention which room he was training him in?" she asked.
Pixel looked at Philip with glittering, searching eyes. He held out his hand to shake. "Beam said you're the one to thank for getting my mum that day job." he said.
She looked at his hand cautiously then shook it. "Yeah, that's me. It didn't take much. The guy only had two firewalls and a nano virus." she laughed and Philip noticed she had a Hayfield accent. She let go of his hand and went to the table. Philip looked at Shimmer.
Nano virus? his expression asked.
Shimmer shrugged.
Pixel placed her hands over the table, a few centimetres above it. "Nope, he didn't mention it but I can find it." She spread her fingers and placed her hands on the table. "Let's get this party started, shall we?"
Lynxia x
Friday 8 June 2012
Another Life, Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2...
Prologue...
Seven miles beneath London, 2027
Iris Valentine stopped in front of her pod. The lid was open and fog rolled out from its cold, blue chamber. The lid had one small window where her face would be when she lay down.
She turned and faced the five others in the large, dimly lit cavern. Her pod was raised above the other two thousand or so others in the metal cave.
"Get in the pod, Iris." Richard said from the front of the five.
Iris raised her chin."Oh, I will, traitor, but let me make this clear first - when I get out, and I will get out, I will come for you descendants. No matter how long I sleep, I will find them but not kill them, that would be too kind, no, I will make them bow and knell before me and make them kiss the ground I walk on and then, and only then, I might kill them." she said, turning the speech into a vow.
"Shut up, Iris, just get in the pod." Colette said, pointing at the Sleeper Pod.
Iris sighed and climbed in. When inside, she placed her left hand over her right hand on her stomach as an undertaker might lay a body in a coffin. Richard glared at her in the pod, his eyes showing hate but the rest of his face stony.
"Sweet dreams." he muttered and closed the lid as Iris closed her eyes.
Chapter 1 - New London...
New London, 3252
The alarm blared at Arcaneon woke up, bleary eyes.
"Good evening, Arcaneon. The shuttle pod will be here in thirty minutes." DIVA said in her electronic female voice.
"Uuuhhhhh, hey DIVA." he grumbled as he rolled out of bed.
"I have taken the liberty of supplying your energy supplement." DIVA said as Arcaneon got up and crossed to his dresser and pulled on his night guard's uniform.
"Thanks DIVA." he said and crossed to the door of his flat. It was small but it was home. He picked up his scan card, the energy shake and closed the door. He hopped down the stairs and came out onto the street beyond. The hoverway's soundproofing must be dying, he thought as he headed towards the museum as he could hear the wub wub wubba wub of the pods' engines as they passed over head. He walked underneath the hoverway on the public footpath. People were all heading to their homes as it was seven o'clock in the evening. Arcaneon was the night guard of the New London History Museum. He waited outside the shining steel chute by the edge of the hoverway. The lift dinged down and he got in as a family of four got out. The chute closed and the metal pad moved upwards, he passed three levels of the hoverway and got out on the top level as the bus pod floated up. He got on and paid. £1.30, this was really taking the mickey now. He sat in one of the curved, chrome seats near the back and leaned his head against the window. They flashed down the hoverway at around two hundred miles an hour and in less than three minutes the pod came to a halt outside a large building made of glass and steel. Arcaneon got off and walked up the glass stairs that crossed the stream. He went inside and flashed his card over the scanner on the desk allowing him entrance to the security guard's room.
"Hiya Arc, how are ya?" Domal said, flashing his toothy smile. Domal was the old day time guard who had trained Arcaneon.
"Fine Dom, how're you doing? Any plans for tonight?" Arcaneon asked, getting his pulse gun from his locker, just in case.
"Yeah, just going out to the pod races and show. Not much, just me and the lads from Helten." Dom said, picking up his bag and going to the door.
"Have fun, remember to bet on Jakreen." Arc said with a wink.
"Anyone who doesn't bet on her is nuts." Dom said with a wheezing laugh and left.
Arc smiled and placed the dark blue hat on his head, the symbol of New London shining silver on the front.
He closed his locker and went into the main lobby to start his rounds. He looked at the main display. This was just in from New York. It was something called an iPad and was about the size of an A4 piece of paper. It was bright pink and contained something called apps. Arcaneon shook his head. Ancient technology, he thought. He moved up the pulse stairs, each step was circular with its own gravity control pulses that flowed in blue rings from the bottom. He got to the second floor and carried on down the hallway. He passed exhibits of all shapes and sizes, from dinosaurs to cars and others.
He criss-crossed over the fifty-two floors of the building, checking all the nooks and crannies he had been shown and behind each exhibit. When he was on the top floor he looked out of the window and the skyscrapers rising high above him and the smaller towers of only thirty floors, just visible through the skyscrapers and offices. A rogue pod zoomed past the window with a sleek, black police vehicle chasing it
it, its lights flashing blue and white.
Arcaneon crossed back to the lift, it was now four thirty, it was sunrise at six so all he could do was wait round the lobby. He got into the curved lift and waited until it dinged onto the bottom floor. He came out of the lift in a side corridor to the lobby and turned the corner to see a thin, balding man in a blue lab coat come out from one of the doors that was for the manager only. He looked around the room and Arcaneon dipped behind the corner just in time. He heard the man leave and looked back to see a faint white light coming from behind the door.
It hadn't closed properly.
Arcaneon scanned the lobby, the corridors he could see and the main staircase with the x-ray scanner on the sleeve of his uniform. When nothing showed up, he crossed to the door. He took a few deep breaths and opened the door.
The corridor beyond was shining steel and long. Both sides were lined by doors and at the far end was a set of double doors. He had been shown the plans when he had got the job but never had this corridor shown up. He walked past one door, cupped his hands and peered in. Inside was a bunch of artefacts. The room was dark and in the centre was a throne-like chair. It was made of bronze with curved sides and a pointed top and it had what looked like a black orb in a cradle on top. The actual seat and backrest were made from a dark purple silk. Around the chair were other things, chests and bookcases holding books and other shining substances in glass cases.
He un-cupped his hands and walked on. "What the Hell is this place?" he muttered to himself.
He passed more doors but stopped when something shining caught his eye. He peered into another room to see a staff propped against a picture. Like the chair, the staff was made of bronze and had a matching black orb at the top which was encased in a brass cage. The picture it was leaning against was clearly hand-painted, something you didn't get very often in Arcaneon's time, it was of a woman with long blonde hair which was slightly looped and wavy and was streaked with brass-y colours, her eyes were a piercing light blue that bordered on turquoise and she had a very regal face with high cheek bones, a slightly pointed chin and an almost mocking smile. He could only see a little into each of these rooms as they didn't seem to have their own light sources so he could only see by the lights of the bare bulbs in the corridor.
He continued on and reached the double doors at the end. These had no windows so he couldn't tell what was beyond them. He scanned his personal card and, much to his surprise, the door opened with a hisss. When he entered the cavern beyond, strip lights in the middle of the ceiling flickered on and he felt his jaw drop.
Rows upon rows of old Sleeper Pods were in the cavern, stretching into the darkness away from the lights that were in the middle of the cavern. The lights seemed to be directly over one pod that was in the centre of the large chamber. This pod was raised up with steps leading up to it. Arcaneon took a tentative step forward, his boot echoing loudly around the metal walls of the underground cave. He continued towards the podium. Every now and then he would stop and look into one of the rusting pods. Each pod had one of the old hand scanners to open it. Inside each pod was a person and all of the ones he saw were alive. They were men, women and some children of all shapes and sizes. He zigzagged his way through the old pods until he reached the fist of the steps. They were steep and made of a slippery metal. Whoever had built this place was trying to stop anyone getting here.
He climbed the steps, having to use his hands for extra support, and looked down into the window of the pod. Lying with her eyes closed was the woman from the picture. She looked as if that picture could have been painted the day she had been put in the Sleeper Pod as she looked no different. He leaned by accident on the hand scanner and a red light flashed on the dash followed by a message.
'Authorisation Level: Guard. Status: Secure' it read and a slight tsss told him the pod was opening. He jumped back a few steps and fog rolled from the opening lid. He stood back over the pod as the lid lifted. He thought for a minute that the pod must have malfunctioned and she was going to stay asleep when her eyes opened and she sucked in a breath.
Chapter 2 - Iris Unleashed...
The woman sat up and looked around, wide eyed like a scared child. Then her eyes landed on Arcaneon who had drawn his pulse gun.
"Who are you?" he asked, levelling the gun with her eyes.
"I will tell you in a moment, but first, please, what year is it?" she asked in a voice like tinkling bells.
Arcaneon was confused but she was polite and he couldn't help but want to help her. "It's thirty two, fifty two." he said, wanting to drop the gun from her pure, innocent face but didn't.
"Really? Then I have been asleep for over a millennia but that is a story for another time. Will you help me out?" she said, raising a slender hand to him.
He placed the gun back in its holster and helped the woman from the pod. He noticed she was wearing no shoes but her light blue gown covered them most of the time. She stood next to him and he realised she was a half a head shorter than him. She gazed around sadly at the cavern.
"You see what my people have become? Locked underground for so long while the rest of the world advances. Tell me, what mentions are there of an Iris Valentine in your history?" she said, sitting on the steps.
Arcaneon thought that was odd, 'her people'? But he shook his head and sat beside her. "Iris Valentine? None, no mentions. If there was, I would know. I've been patrolling the museum for five years." he said pointing upwards. "Why?" he asked.
"Oh, I was just wondering. Just a silly question." she replied with a laugh like a bubbling stream. Every time she spoke Arcaneon got more lost in her shining voice. "Where are my manners?" she suddenly exclaimed "I am Iris Valentine. I asked to see if any mention of my... Disappearance was ever recorded, that's all." she said, extending her had to shake and turning her endless blue eyes on him.
Arcaneon didn't notice the hesitation and shook her hand. "Arcaneon, call me Arc." he said.
"What a name, hmm. What does it mean?" she asked, letting go of his hand.
"It was the third most popular boys name in thirty two, twenty four. It means challenger." he explained.
"It's a very nice name, I must say. Do tell me, Arc, what is the world like now?" Iris asked.
"The world? Same as it has been for the last few hundred years. You're underneath New London at the moment." he said.
Iris's brow creased slightly. "New London? What happened to the original?" she asked.
"Fell into an underground cavern in twenty six, sixty nine. Nobody knew about the place, the estimated that around eight million died, there was never a complete count up. Scientists go down to the wrecks in pods, this cavern probably isn't that far away, actually." Arc explained.
Iris looked away and muttered "I'm sure Richard knew, he tried to bury me in there, but his calculations were off."
Arc cocked his head. "Who's Richard?" he asked. "Weird name, old fashioned."
Iris looked back, her frown gone and a slight smile taking it's place. "Richard? It doesn't matter, it's another story for another time." she said.
Arc opened his mouth to reply when his com-sleeve beeped. "Thirty minutes until sunrise." the computer said. Arc jumped up. "I have to go, are you coming with me?" he asked, sincerely hoping she would say yes.
Iris dashed his hopes. "I'm afraid I can't, the world is not ready for me yet and I am not ready to venture out. Not yet." she walked back to her pod. "I go back into this pod with my faith in you, Arc, will you come and wake me again tomorrow night?" she said, not looking at him and running her finger around the rim of the chamber. "If you do not wake me, the pod could fail and I might die but you have a choice - you can walk away now after putting me back in the pod and never return, leave me for someone else to find in another thousand years or you can wake me again and help me purify the world." she said, turning to face him again now.
Arc was now completely under the spell of her eyes and shimmering voice. "Of course I'll wake you, why wouldn't I?" he said.
She smiled. "Then I go into this pod in peace. See you soon, Arcaneon." she said and climbed back into her pod.
Arc stood over her and pulled the lid down as she closed her eyes with no idea what he had unleashed...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9TtYbt7mCg&feature=BFa&list=PLDE3F12DB37755C23
^^Listen to that while reading the bit where Arcaneon is in the corridor and cavern before Iris is awake. ^^
Oh and I can't choose which cover to use for this...
Help me, please?
This one...?
or
that one?
Tell me which you prefer, please!!
Lynxia x
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