Chapter 12
Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 8:30 pm
A/N- I'm really sorry about the delay to anyone still reading this. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and I really wanted this chapter to sound right. But now it's finally here, and I really hope you like it. Many thanks, as usual, to my extremely patient beta, ashleyt.
Chapter 11
Lex covered her head and froze, paralyzed in fear as the room shook with blasts. After a moment, though, she realized that the blasts weren’t being aimed at her. Raising her head, she saw skin floating in the air, filling the room with gray. Rath came over, flanked by unknown people.
“You know, that floor is kind of dirty,” Rath said, grinning down at her.
Lex wrinkled her nose. “Well, now the air is dirty, too.” She took Rath’s hand, pulling herself and Zane up.
“I hate being a buzzkill,” Zane started, when Lex snorted disbelievingly.
“I hate being a buzzkill,” he repeated, throwing Lex a stern look, “but who are these people?”
Rath beamed. “These are the Michael worshippers.”
“Like Courtney?” Lex asked.
Rath nodded.
“Have they ever met Uncle Michael?” she asked. “Like, in this lifetime? And why have they just showed up now, and not, say, twenty years ago? I mean, no offense,” Lex said to the girl standing nearest her. “But seriously, Uncle Michael? And you happen to show up now? I just find it a little suspicious.”
”Hey, I was born into this,” the girl replied, shrugging. “From the way my mom tells it, Rath was King Arthur and Brad Pitt rolled into one. And as for us showing up now, we, or my parents and their faction, came over when technology was better, after you were already missing.” She shrugged. “So we’ve kept a watch on Kal, and other significant places where Rath- the older one, was likely to show up. Today was my watch, was all. There was bound to be some sort of blowup eventually, especially when we got word that someone had gotten hold of the king and all.”
Lex was quiet for a moment, then sighed, looking at Rath and Zane. “I think she’s telling the truth. I don’t sense any ill will, anyways.”
The Michael worshipper frowned. “I don’t get it.”
Rath spoke up. “Lex is an empath. Most of the time it takes too much to keep it going, especially if she's not touching them, but if she concentrates, she can tell when someone is being truthful or not.”
The girl shifted uncomfortably, but shrugged it off. “Whatev. Well, I’m Madison.” She waved her hand behind her. “This is Adam, Jenn, John, and Pad-dog.”
Lex smirked. “Well, this is Zane, and I can see you’ve already met Rath.” She cocked an eyebrow. “So now we’ve made the introductions, I’m pretty sure we should probably get out of here. You know, before the cops show up?”
”Sounds good to me,” Madison said, tossing her hair. “You should probably follow us home. Meet the folks and everything, all romantic-like. Just be sure to keep up.”
”I think we can handle that, sweetheart,” Lex retorted. “Zane, why don’t you ride with them, just in case we get ahead?”
Madison checked Zane out. “Yeah, we don’t want ya’ll getting lost. You can stick with me.”
As they filed out of the broken wall, Madison leaned in close to Zane. “You Ava’s kid, ain’t you?”
“Ava?” he asked. “Oh, you mean Tess. Yeah, sure. Why?”
Madison shrugged. “Just figuring it all out, doll.”
Lex snorted as she got into the car. “It’s so fortunate that some people have such high opinions of themselves.”
Rath rolled his eyes but said nothing.
“But, now we have a plan. Larek’s getting it all set up. He says our parents are safe,” Lex informed him.
Rath lit up, relief covering his face. “That’s good. So, what’s going on?”
”Huh?” Lex asked innocently.
“Well, I don’t know,” Rath said. “What do you think about our new friends?”
Lex shrugged, sinking down in her seat and pouting. “I think we should be cautious. I mean, they seem ok, but I think we should be on our toes now more than ever.”
“Sure,” Rath drawled. “We’ll try to be safe around the people who worship my line. I’ll be real careful.”
Rolling her eyes and straightening back up, Lex replied, “All I’m saying is that there’s this new group of people we don’t know that we’re going home with, and I’m pretty sure it’s not a trap, but this would be a really bad time to stop being careful.”
"Right. Will do. I mean, I'm sure Pad-dog is super dangerous," Rath said, feigning fear.
“Hey,” Lex snapped. “Wasn’t I right about us going there too soon? Didn’t we just get attacked by Khivar’s men and leave a giant, neon sign that said ‘Someone blasted the wall of this producer’s house, does that look human to you?’ Can’t you just, I don’t know, oh, trust me for once?”
“All right.” Rath looked at Lex seriously this time. “I promise.”
Lex sat back in her seat. “Thank you.”
They followed Madison to a little rose-covered house on the outskirts of the city. Lex choked in disbelief as she got out of the car. “This is the great alien hideout? Well, I’m pretty sure no one’s on to us." She deepened her voice dramatically. "Yes, we have traveled many distant galaxies to move to your suburbs.”
Rath rolled his eyes and followed her out of the car.
Madison winced as she crawled out of her van. Zane looked her over, concerned. “Are you all right?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m fine."
He reached out to gently touch her arm. “No you’re not, you’re bleeding. Here, just let me heal that for you.”
Madison leaned back. “Um, I don’t think so. You can read people’s minds with that voodoo you do. Don’t think I don’t know that, at least.”
Pad-dog crawled out of the van behind her. “Maddy, stop being a baby and let the man heal you.”
“Whatev,” she said, and rolled her eyes. “Just make it quick, all right?”
Zane stepped closer to her and reached over to lay his hand on her arm. He was startled, a little, that he was so much taller than her. Her personality made her seem bigger than she actually was. He grinned. “I promise, it’ll feel better than losing your arm to gangrene.”
His hand glowed, and true to her fears, things flashed before both of their eyes. *Zane as a little kid, his hand covered in blood, with a startled look on his face* *Madison, on her first day of school, all the other kids running past her* *Zane reading alone in his room* *Madison, hitting a punching bag until she cried*. The flashes ended and both of them stepped back, breathing hard.
“Uh, we’d better go meet your parents,” Zane said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Madison shot him a quelling look. “Don’t get all excited about it, princess.”
She went up to the door and unlocked it, everyone following her inside. “Mom! Dad! We’re home!” she called.
The house was homey. It had a rose-print living room set, coffee table covered in magazines, a tv, and pictures scattered on the shelves and walls. A tiny woman with Madison’s nose bustled in, talking a mile a minute. “Madival, if I have told you once, I have told you a hundred times-” She cut herself short as she saw the visitors. “Madival?”
Madison rolled her eyes. “Mom, this is Zane Granway and Lex Evans, Zan’s son and daughter. And Rath, son of Rath. Guys, this is Rhana. My mother.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about your parents!” Rhana exclaimed, trying to hug all of them at once. “Madison, why didn’t you call ahead? You must be so hungry. Let me make you something to eat. Sit down, you must be exhausted. I’ll be right back, I just have to call Madival’s father. Madival, offer them something to drink!”
Madison reluctantly followed her mother into the next room as everyone sat down. Lex perched on the edge of the couch next to Rath, who was typically sprawled all over the place. She slowly looked around the room, taking everything in.
“So, Madival?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
The other girl, Jenn, shrugged. “Maddy was the first of us to go to school. She got tired of being different real quick, and convinced all of us that our names weren’t human enough. Our parents still call us by our Antarian names, at least in private.”
Lex nodded, smiling wryly. Being different, she understood. “So, just to get this straight- you’re Jenn, John, Adam, and... Pad-dog?”
Pad-dog nodded. “Used to be Padraig, normal for Padan. I was gonna go by either that or Padawan, but someone insisted we were trying to ‘fit in’ better, rather than worse.” He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.
Everyone laughed, and relaxed slightly. Lex grinned awkwardly. “Ok, so this is going to sound weird, but... what race are you? Because we know about skins and shapeshifters.”
Jenn laughed. “We’re True Antarians, what you would call shapeshifters. It’s what you’re a hybrid of, technically. The skins, those are from Kathana’s world, Athan. Most of them support Khivar, because he’s given them concessions on everything from lower import taxes to higher immigration status, but some of them are loyalists, and some follow Rath. There are a few other races, and many different subspecies of each, but these are the main ones you have to contend with.”
Madison came back in, carrying a tray of glasses and pitcher of lemonade. She began handing them to people, then passed around the pitcher.
Lex sipped it cautiously. “Wow, this is really good. I thought shapeshifters couldn’t taste anything,” she said, one eyebrow raised delicately.
Madison shrugged. “Yeah, but we’re not entirely True Antarian. We’re more so than you, but we’re hybrids too.” She looked down at Lex distastefully. “Our parents wanted us to fit in better here, so they changed our genes. We weren’t cloned like your parents.”
“Huh,” Lex said, staring over Madison's head. “All right, then.”
Zane and Rath looked at Lex, puzzled by her behavior. Zane frowned at Rath, who shrugged. Zane shook his head, almost imperceptibly, then stood up, smiling at the other group. “I’m sorry, do you have a restroom somewhere?”
”Sure,” Madison said, standing up. She twined her arm around his, returning his smile flirtatiously. “Let me show you.”
They walked out of the room, Zane leaning down to talk quietly to her, their heads close. Lex’s eyes narrowed, then she shook it off, twining her hair with around her fingers.
Rhana came back, smiling like she’d won the lottery. “Dinner’s on the table, and Kav should be back any minute. Why don’t we all go in and- Where’s Madival?” She looked around as if she’d pop out from behind a chair.
“She showed Zane to the bathroom,” Lex replied, standing up. “Um, is there any way I could help you?”
Rhana paused for a moment, a wary look on her face, then smiled at Lex. “Oh, dear, no, but thank you for offering. Why don’t we go in and get settled? I’m sure Zane and Madival will join us in a moment.” She ushered them into the dining room, making sure they were all seated comfortably.
The rest of the evening passed slightly uncomfortably, with Zane and Madison flirting, and Lex and Rhana watching them, but things went smoothly otherwise. They met Kav, Rhana’s husband and Madison’s father, who was quiet but funny. They insisted that they put them up for the night, with Rath granted the guest bedroom, Lex sharing with Madison, and Zane going home with Pad-dog. The next day they were going to meet the rest of the Rath-worshippers, and figure out what they were going to do from there.
Lex was awakened early the next morning by her phone buzzing.
“Turn that damn thing off, why don’t you,” Madison muttered at her, her face buried into her pillow.
Lex rolled over groggily and grabbed her phone.
One new text message from Zane. Ignore---Read
Text Received: 5:45 a.m.
Outside. Now.
Lex pulled a sweatshirt over her head and ran downstairs, scared to death. A million possibilities of what could be going on ran through her head, none of them good. She stumbled outside, cold and barefoot, to find Zane looking unkempt and pacing around the yard, shoulders hunched over and hands in his pockets, freezing when he saw her.
“Zane? Zane, what’s going on? Is Rath ok?” Lex looked back at the house anxiously, wringing her hands. “Surely I’d have heard something if-”
“No!” Zane cried, then lowered his voice. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just needed to ask you a question.”
Lex relaxed visibly, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. “Oh. Well, I guess it would be ok. What is it?” She looked at him curiously.
Zane hesitated, taking a deep breath and giving her a steely look. “Lex, what aren’t you telling me about my mother?”
Lex stepped backwards, white as a sheet. “Oh God, Zane.”
Chapter 11
Lex covered her head and froze, paralyzed in fear as the room shook with blasts. After a moment, though, she realized that the blasts weren’t being aimed at her. Raising her head, she saw skin floating in the air, filling the room with gray. Rath came over, flanked by unknown people.
“You know, that floor is kind of dirty,” Rath said, grinning down at her.
Lex wrinkled her nose. “Well, now the air is dirty, too.” She took Rath’s hand, pulling herself and Zane up.
“I hate being a buzzkill,” Zane started, when Lex snorted disbelievingly.
“I hate being a buzzkill,” he repeated, throwing Lex a stern look, “but who are these people?”
Rath beamed. “These are the Michael worshippers.”
“Like Courtney?” Lex asked.
Rath nodded.
“Have they ever met Uncle Michael?” she asked. “Like, in this lifetime? And why have they just showed up now, and not, say, twenty years ago? I mean, no offense,” Lex said to the girl standing nearest her. “But seriously, Uncle Michael? And you happen to show up now? I just find it a little suspicious.”
”Hey, I was born into this,” the girl replied, shrugging. “From the way my mom tells it, Rath was King Arthur and Brad Pitt rolled into one. And as for us showing up now, we, or my parents and their faction, came over when technology was better, after you were already missing.” She shrugged. “So we’ve kept a watch on Kal, and other significant places where Rath- the older one, was likely to show up. Today was my watch, was all. There was bound to be some sort of blowup eventually, especially when we got word that someone had gotten hold of the king and all.”
Lex was quiet for a moment, then sighed, looking at Rath and Zane. “I think she’s telling the truth. I don’t sense any ill will, anyways.”
The Michael worshipper frowned. “I don’t get it.”
Rath spoke up. “Lex is an empath. Most of the time it takes too much to keep it going, especially if she's not touching them, but if she concentrates, she can tell when someone is being truthful or not.”
The girl shifted uncomfortably, but shrugged it off. “Whatev. Well, I’m Madison.” She waved her hand behind her. “This is Adam, Jenn, John, and Pad-dog.”
Lex smirked. “Well, this is Zane, and I can see you’ve already met Rath.” She cocked an eyebrow. “So now we’ve made the introductions, I’m pretty sure we should probably get out of here. You know, before the cops show up?”
”Sounds good to me,” Madison said, tossing her hair. “You should probably follow us home. Meet the folks and everything, all romantic-like. Just be sure to keep up.”
”I think we can handle that, sweetheart,” Lex retorted. “Zane, why don’t you ride with them, just in case we get ahead?”
Madison checked Zane out. “Yeah, we don’t want ya’ll getting lost. You can stick with me.”
As they filed out of the broken wall, Madison leaned in close to Zane. “You Ava’s kid, ain’t you?”
“Ava?” he asked. “Oh, you mean Tess. Yeah, sure. Why?”
Madison shrugged. “Just figuring it all out, doll.”
Lex snorted as she got into the car. “It’s so fortunate that some people have such high opinions of themselves.”
Rath rolled his eyes but said nothing.
“But, now we have a plan. Larek’s getting it all set up. He says our parents are safe,” Lex informed him.
Rath lit up, relief covering his face. “That’s good. So, what’s going on?”
”Huh?” Lex asked innocently.
“Well, I don’t know,” Rath said. “What do you think about our new friends?”
Lex shrugged, sinking down in her seat and pouting. “I think we should be cautious. I mean, they seem ok, but I think we should be on our toes now more than ever.”
“Sure,” Rath drawled. “We’ll try to be safe around the people who worship my line. I’ll be real careful.”
Rolling her eyes and straightening back up, Lex replied, “All I’m saying is that there’s this new group of people we don’t know that we’re going home with, and I’m pretty sure it’s not a trap, but this would be a really bad time to stop being careful.”
"Right. Will do. I mean, I'm sure Pad-dog is super dangerous," Rath said, feigning fear.
“Hey,” Lex snapped. “Wasn’t I right about us going there too soon? Didn’t we just get attacked by Khivar’s men and leave a giant, neon sign that said ‘Someone blasted the wall of this producer’s house, does that look human to you?’ Can’t you just, I don’t know, oh, trust me for once?”
“All right.” Rath looked at Lex seriously this time. “I promise.”
Lex sat back in her seat. “Thank you.”
They followed Madison to a little rose-covered house on the outskirts of the city. Lex choked in disbelief as she got out of the car. “This is the great alien hideout? Well, I’m pretty sure no one’s on to us." She deepened her voice dramatically. "Yes, we have traveled many distant galaxies to move to your suburbs.”
Rath rolled his eyes and followed her out of the car.
Madison winced as she crawled out of her van. Zane looked her over, concerned. “Are you all right?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m fine."
He reached out to gently touch her arm. “No you’re not, you’re bleeding. Here, just let me heal that for you.”
Madison leaned back. “Um, I don’t think so. You can read people’s minds with that voodoo you do. Don’t think I don’t know that, at least.”
Pad-dog crawled out of the van behind her. “Maddy, stop being a baby and let the man heal you.”
“Whatev,” she said, and rolled her eyes. “Just make it quick, all right?”
Zane stepped closer to her and reached over to lay his hand on her arm. He was startled, a little, that he was so much taller than her. Her personality made her seem bigger than she actually was. He grinned. “I promise, it’ll feel better than losing your arm to gangrene.”
His hand glowed, and true to her fears, things flashed before both of their eyes. *Zane as a little kid, his hand covered in blood, with a startled look on his face* *Madison, on her first day of school, all the other kids running past her* *Zane reading alone in his room* *Madison, hitting a punching bag until she cried*. The flashes ended and both of them stepped back, breathing hard.
“Uh, we’d better go meet your parents,” Zane said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Madison shot him a quelling look. “Don’t get all excited about it, princess.”
She went up to the door and unlocked it, everyone following her inside. “Mom! Dad! We’re home!” she called.
The house was homey. It had a rose-print living room set, coffee table covered in magazines, a tv, and pictures scattered on the shelves and walls. A tiny woman with Madison’s nose bustled in, talking a mile a minute. “Madival, if I have told you once, I have told you a hundred times-” She cut herself short as she saw the visitors. “Madival?”
Madison rolled her eyes. “Mom, this is Zane Granway and Lex Evans, Zan’s son and daughter. And Rath, son of Rath. Guys, this is Rhana. My mother.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about your parents!” Rhana exclaimed, trying to hug all of them at once. “Madison, why didn’t you call ahead? You must be so hungry. Let me make you something to eat. Sit down, you must be exhausted. I’ll be right back, I just have to call Madival’s father. Madival, offer them something to drink!”
Madison reluctantly followed her mother into the next room as everyone sat down. Lex perched on the edge of the couch next to Rath, who was typically sprawled all over the place. She slowly looked around the room, taking everything in.
“So, Madival?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
The other girl, Jenn, shrugged. “Maddy was the first of us to go to school. She got tired of being different real quick, and convinced all of us that our names weren’t human enough. Our parents still call us by our Antarian names, at least in private.”
Lex nodded, smiling wryly. Being different, she understood. “So, just to get this straight- you’re Jenn, John, Adam, and... Pad-dog?”
Pad-dog nodded. “Used to be Padraig, normal for Padan. I was gonna go by either that or Padawan, but someone insisted we were trying to ‘fit in’ better, rather than worse.” He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.
Everyone laughed, and relaxed slightly. Lex grinned awkwardly. “Ok, so this is going to sound weird, but... what race are you? Because we know about skins and shapeshifters.”
Jenn laughed. “We’re True Antarians, what you would call shapeshifters. It’s what you’re a hybrid of, technically. The skins, those are from Kathana’s world, Athan. Most of them support Khivar, because he’s given them concessions on everything from lower import taxes to higher immigration status, but some of them are loyalists, and some follow Rath. There are a few other races, and many different subspecies of each, but these are the main ones you have to contend with.”
Madison came back in, carrying a tray of glasses and pitcher of lemonade. She began handing them to people, then passed around the pitcher.
Lex sipped it cautiously. “Wow, this is really good. I thought shapeshifters couldn’t taste anything,” she said, one eyebrow raised delicately.
Madison shrugged. “Yeah, but we’re not entirely True Antarian. We’re more so than you, but we’re hybrids too.” She looked down at Lex distastefully. “Our parents wanted us to fit in better here, so they changed our genes. We weren’t cloned like your parents.”
“Huh,” Lex said, staring over Madison's head. “All right, then.”
Zane and Rath looked at Lex, puzzled by her behavior. Zane frowned at Rath, who shrugged. Zane shook his head, almost imperceptibly, then stood up, smiling at the other group. “I’m sorry, do you have a restroom somewhere?”
”Sure,” Madison said, standing up. She twined her arm around his, returning his smile flirtatiously. “Let me show you.”
They walked out of the room, Zane leaning down to talk quietly to her, their heads close. Lex’s eyes narrowed, then she shook it off, twining her hair with around her fingers.
Rhana came back, smiling like she’d won the lottery. “Dinner’s on the table, and Kav should be back any minute. Why don’t we all go in and- Where’s Madival?” She looked around as if she’d pop out from behind a chair.
“She showed Zane to the bathroom,” Lex replied, standing up. “Um, is there any way I could help you?”
Rhana paused for a moment, a wary look on her face, then smiled at Lex. “Oh, dear, no, but thank you for offering. Why don’t we go in and get settled? I’m sure Zane and Madival will join us in a moment.” She ushered them into the dining room, making sure they were all seated comfortably.
The rest of the evening passed slightly uncomfortably, with Zane and Madison flirting, and Lex and Rhana watching them, but things went smoothly otherwise. They met Kav, Rhana’s husband and Madison’s father, who was quiet but funny. They insisted that they put them up for the night, with Rath granted the guest bedroom, Lex sharing with Madison, and Zane going home with Pad-dog. The next day they were going to meet the rest of the Rath-worshippers, and figure out what they were going to do from there.
Lex was awakened early the next morning by her phone buzzing.
“Turn that damn thing off, why don’t you,” Madison muttered at her, her face buried into her pillow.
Lex rolled over groggily and grabbed her phone.
One new text message from Zane. Ignore---Read
Text Received: 5:45 a.m.
Outside. Now.
Lex pulled a sweatshirt over her head and ran downstairs, scared to death. A million possibilities of what could be going on ran through her head, none of them good. She stumbled outside, cold and barefoot, to find Zane looking unkempt and pacing around the yard, shoulders hunched over and hands in his pockets, freezing when he saw her.
“Zane? Zane, what’s going on? Is Rath ok?” Lex looked back at the house anxiously, wringing her hands. “Surely I’d have heard something if-”
“No!” Zane cried, then lowered his voice. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just needed to ask you a question.”
Lex relaxed visibly, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. “Oh. Well, I guess it would be ok. What is it?” She looked at him curiously.
Zane hesitated, taking a deep breath and giving her a steely look. “Lex, what aren’t you telling me about my mother?”
Lex stepped backwards, white as a sheet. “Oh God, Zane.”
thanks.