~o~O~o~

Note: Decided to do 7 & 8 together since they were kinda short. 

 

** Chapter 7 **

 

I’m still feeling a bit off center when I get home, so out of habit I power up my PC and check my emails.

 

Crap!  It looks like I won’t be able to login to GEO right away after all.  I forgot about my school’s student website. All the teacher’s classes that I missed today have their homework assignments online for me to complete for tomorrow.  Grrr.  Oh well, I’ll get it done in time for dinner, then play after dinner at my normal time.

 

 My homework goes by a bit faster then I expect.  The math seems easier then I first expected and my reading assignment from English is over almost as fast as I can turn the pages.

 

I’m all finished with my homework and I still have about an hour before dinner starts.  I surf over to the guild website, but find out that my access has been revoked.  Damn!  Lord Vincint must really be pissed at me!  I decide to take a peek at the GEO run server specific message forum to see if anyone has mentioned my name.  I find a message written by Lord Vincint in the form of a Public Service Announcement.

 

Notice: Wanted for Questioning by the Alliance of Light

Name: Whisper

Class: Master Thief

 

Crimes: Grand Theft Griffon 

 

I kid you not!  Seeing that, I just have to ROFL all over.  At least, he called me a “Master Thief”!  That has to count for something, right?

 

Notes:  Suspect is to be considered armed and dangerous. Approach with extreme caution.

 

WTF? Is Lord Vincint a cop in real life or something?

 

Whisper is also suspected to be under the influence of the side of Dark and may attempt to steal the Font of Light from the Alliance.  If you have any information about the current whereabouts of Whisper, please notify your guild leadership, the nearest Guard or City Official immediately.

 

Signed,

 

Lord Vincint

Supreme Allied Commander

Alliance of Light

 

Wow, just wow!  I can’t believe that this quest is causing so much trouble!  It’s pretty darn exciting.  I can’t wait to get logged in now.  I notice that there are already over fifty replies to his message.  Some of them are pretty funny.

 

W00t!  About time u whiney goodie goodie’s got what is coming 2 u!  I can’t wait to p0wn u all!

…

Does Whisper drop any good loot?

…

I always knew she was evil and stealing from her parties.  You just can’t ever trust a thief, can you?

…

Lady Whisper is being framed! I know her and she would never do something like this!

…

U all r luzers!

 

 

Errr…what?  At least one person is on my side. Reading this crap is giving me a headache.

 

I hear my Mom come home to get started on dinner.  First, she comes upstairs to check on me and Lindsay.  When she pokes her head into my room, I turn and say, “Hi Mom!”.  She smiles and asks me if I am done with my homework.  I reply affirmatively and she closes my door to continue on to Linsday’s room.  Less than a minute later, I hear her head back downstairs.

 

“Gahhh!  This thread is so dumb!” I say.  I can’t believe that I am even reading it.  I think that I will just go see if my mom needs some help downstairs.  Earn myself some brownie points to help her forget last night.

 

After a quick bathroom stop followed by the required hand washing, I head downstairs.  Yes, I really did wash my hands.  Not just run some water over them and then dry them.  Geez!  I sit down at the kitchen bar counter and watch my Mom put away some groceries. 

 

She glances over her shoulder. “Hi Brian, how was the field trip?”.

 

I shrug my shoulders. “It was okay, I guess.”

 

“Just okay?” She stops and turns to look at me.

 

“Yeah, okay, it was pretty cool. I got to see some nanites and even wear an environmental clean room suit for a few minutes.” I grudgingly admit.  You can just come out and admit to how cool science stuff is, or else your parents will think you’re a nerd or something.

 

She looks at me with concern as she walks over to feel my forehead. “Are you okay, hon?  You look a little flushed.  Are you coming down with something?”

 

“I’m fine Mom, really!  I felt a little sick on the bus ride from Los Alamos, but I think I just got a little motion sickness or something.”

 

“Well, you do feel a little warm.  Lemme look at you.” She looks at my face closer.  She inhales a surprised breath for some reason. “Brian?  What happened to your eyes?”

 

“Huh?  Nothing, Mom.  Why?”

 

She turns my head to point my eyes into some light. “Your eyes are a bright green now and I can see some silver in there too.”

 

“What? No way, Mom.  Did John call you and tell you to mess with me or something?”

 

“I’m calling your Dad right now.  I’ll ask him to get some pizzas for dinner on the way home.  I have some calls to make.  Until your Dad get’s home, I want you to go up to your room, lie down and don’t do anything to strain yourself!  Absolutely no GEO!”

 

“But Moooommm! I’m fine!” I whine.

 

“Don’t ‘but Mom’ me young man!  Room. Bed. Now.” She points with a steely gaze.

 

So much for trying to help Mom in the kitchen! I trudge back up the stairs to my room.  I plop down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling in frustration.   My eyes!  I get back up and go into the bathroom.  Turning all the lights on, I look at the mirror.

 

Crap!  My eyes have changed color.  They kind of remind me of that green circuit board color, especially with the silvery traces in my whites.  Freaky!

 

Okay, now I am starting to get a little worried.

 

I return to my bedroom and notice Sensei Roger’s book titled “The History of the U.S. Marine Corp” sitting on my bed stand.  We are still working on Sun Tzu, but he warned us that this was next on the list. I decide that I could try and read a couple of pages in preparation for the next class. 

 

>Scanning…

 

Huh? 

 

Three minutes later, I’m done reading the entire one hundred and seventy five page book!

What the heck?!?!  This is so cool!  I close my eyes and I can recall with perfect clarity each and every page in the book.  I just think of a word or phrase and instantly, the page or pages pop into view in my head!  Want to know why a Marine is called a “Leatherneck”? 

 

Poof!  In my head, the relevant passage pops into view!  Highlighted and everything!

 

Whoa!  I’m feeling a little dizzy again. Maybe Mom was right.  Maybe I should just take a nap.  I decide to lay down and just close my eyes and relax instead.

~o~O~o~

** Chapter 8 **

 

“Barb?  Please call me as soon as you get this message!  Something is wrong with Brian and I need your help!” Jennifer Peters pleads into her cell phone before she anxiously hangs up.  Breathing deeply to help force herself to calm down and think for a minute, she places another call.

 

“Dave?”

 

“Yes dear?  I’m just getting ready to leave work.  What’s wrong?”

 

“I’m worried about Brian.”

 

“What? Why?  Is everything okay?”

 

“I don’t know.  I was getting ready to start cooking dinner when Brian came downstairs.  He looked like he was running a fever, so I checked and then I noticed that his eyes have changed color.”

 

“Changed color?  Is that bad?  Oh, yeah…”

 

“Exactly, so I tried to get a hold of Barb, but I just got her voice mail.”

 

“I’ll run right home now then!”

 

“I don’t know if it is all that bad Honey.  I sent Brian up to his room to lie down, but could you stop and grab a pizza on the way instead?  I don’t feel like cooking right now.”

 

“Sure, that sounds like a good plan.  How’s Lindsay?”

 

“She’s fine. She was in her room doing her homework and listening to her tunes when I checked on her.”

 

“Oh, good.  I’m leaving right now.  I’ll be home as fast as possible!  Call me if anything changes!”

 

Jennifer relaxes a little after talking to her husband. “Okay, maybe I am just over reacting?  Calm down.  Think.  What did the evil stepmom do when we thought that I had powers?”  She recalled exactly how much her stepmom freaked out. On the plus side, that freak out is what caused her Dad to file for a divorce from the psycho. 

 

“Okay…maybe not a good example.”  She jumps when her phone starts to ring.  As she looks at the caller ID screen, her eyes light up.

 

“Barb!  Thank god you called!  I need your help!” She says with relief.

 

“Whoa, Jen, slow down.  You’re sounding a little panicked right now.”

 

“I’m sorry Barb, but I’m just so worried about Brian!”

 

“What’s wrong with Brian?”

 

“His eyes changed color.  They are now a bright jade green color and have small silvery traces.   He’s also running a slight fever and looks a little tired.”

 

“Okay…that sounds like he is in the first stage of mutant manifestation. Perfectly normal and nothing to be alarmed about.”

 

“But what if he burns out or ends up with GSD ( Gross Structural Deformity ) or the MCO ( Mutant Control Organization ) comes for him?”  She cries into the phone.

 

“None of that is going to happen, Jen.  First, you need to call your family doctor and get him seen as soon as possible.  You’ve said that he seems to show a talent for working on computers, maybe he’s just a devisor or gadgeteer?  You know that nothing really bad ever happens to those types, right?”

 

“Ummm…I dunno, I’ve heard stories.”

 

“Look,  based on what you’ve told me so far, I’d say it is probably just a normal mutant manifestation.  As long as his fever doesn’t spike above 102 and he doesn’t over use his powers, he should be fine.”

 

“I hope you’re right.  No, that’s silly of me.  You’re always right.”

 

“hehe. I know Jen, but not always.  If something changes give me a call ASAP and I will be down there so fast it will make your head spin!”

 

“Thanks Barb!  That really makes me feel much better.  What would I do without you?”

 

“I dunno, you probably wouldn’t need to keep a good stock of wine in the house for when I come to visit?”

 

Jennifer laughs as her friend’s words help to calm her nervous tension.

 

“Thanks Barb, I’m going to go check on Brian now.  I’ll call you if anything changes.”

 

“No problem girlfriend!  Love ya, bye!”

 

 “Barb! You’re impossible!”  Jennifer hangs up her phone with a smile.

 

She quickly dials the number for the doctor’s office and manages to sneak into getting an appointment to see the family doctor for first thing in the morning.  With that taken care of, she decides to check on her son.

 

Walking upstairs, she enters his room and notices him sleeping on the top of his covers with all his clothes on and a book about the Marines laying next to him.  Smiling with relief, she decides to sit down next to him and feel his forehead.

 

“Well, his fever feels like it is actually a little less than before.” She says, quietly to herself.

 

**

 

“Mom?” I ask as I feel a hand on my forehead.

 

“Yes, Brian?”

 

“Am I going to be okay?” I feeling a little worried now and all the stuff that I can suddenly do is starting to freak me out.

“I think so.  I just got off the phone with my friend Barb.  You remember her, right?”

 

“Yeah, I think so.  Isn’t she the pretty one that you always complain about beating you in poker and drinking all your wine when she comes to visit?” I say, smiling to let her know that I think her friend Barb is great.

 

“Yes, that is that one and it is not polite to talk about your elders that way young man!”

 

“But, you’re the one who said it first!” I say, indignantly.  Well, she did. The last time Barb visited us, I overheard her thank Barb for leaving so that she would have some wine left and lunch money for the kids.

 

“Well, I can see that you’re feeling better!  If you’re able to crack jokes, then you’re good enough to come down and keep me company in the living room until your father gets home with the pizzas.”

 

As my Mom leads me down the stairs, I‘m still feeling a little drained, but I’m also feeling excited about my reading discovery.  I find that I can still perfectly recall the Marine’s book I read before my nap.  The part that is kind of freaking me out is how fast and complete the text is popping up in my head. It’s like I have an eBook reader or something.

 

When we reach the living room, my Mom asks me to sit on the couch with her. “Brian,  do you know why I am so worried about your eye’s changing color?” She looks a little worried.

 

“No?  I’m not dying am I?”

 

She almost laughs at that, but she is looking a little brittle. “No Brian, I do not think that you are dying.” She says, then sighs. “How much do you know about mutants?”

 

“Umm, not much really, just what I see on the news.  Why, are you trying to say that I might be a mutant?”

 

“Yes, Brian.” She says with a touch of sadness in her voice.

 

“Oh wow!  That’s cool!  Do you think that I will be able to fly or fight super villains?” I say excitedly as my Mom’s face gets an even more concerned look.

 

“No honey and you should consider yourself very lucky if you can’t do all those super powered things. Super heroes like that tend to have a very short lifespan.  Plus, super heroes have a lot more problems to deal with.”

 

“How do you know so much about super hero stuff?”

 

“Well, as you probably already know, my friend Barb is a mutant and in a super hero group for one.”

 

“Yeah…okay.”

 

“And, I might be a mutant too.”

 

“What?!?!”

 

“I have a minor empathic talent. I was tested, but I didn’t register on the test equipment so I’m officially not a mutant. But, based on some of the random insights that I sometimes have on how people are feeling, Barb says that I might be an Empath one on the mutant powers scale.”

 

Ah ha!  So that is how she always knows when I am lying to her!

 

“Does Dad know?”

 

“Yes, of course he knows.”

 

“What about Lindsay?”  She better not have found out before I did!

 

“No, she doesn’t know, but I think that she might be a mutant too.” She admits.

 

“What?  Why?” I ask in stunned amazement.

 

“I can’t read her.  She can block me somehow.  That is how she is able to get away with lying more then you can.”

 

Ah ha!  I wonder if I can figure out a way to do that too now?

 

“Dad’s not a mutant too is he?”

 

“Nope, your Dad is a very special man, but he is not a mutant.”

Dad chooses that time to make his grand entrance.  He cheerily enters the kitchen carrying two large Papa Henry’s Pizzas. Setting them on the counter he enters the living room to look at my eyes.

 

“Wow son, I don’t know what to say, but those are some amazing eyes you have there now.”, he admits after a minute of study as Mom stands nervously by my side.  He then completely surprises me with an extra big hug.

 

“I’m worried about you son, but I want you to know that no matter what happens, your Mother and I will always love you.”

 

Whoa…some heavy emotions there.

 

“Dad!  Geez,  it’s just my eyes. I’m not like I’m going to grow some horns or something here!”

 

“Yeah, well, even if you did.”

 

“Umm, well, is that pizza?” I ask trying to change the conversation flow.

 

“Hehe, yes.  Why don’t you run upstairs and get your sister so we can all eat.” My dad asks.

 

“Sure thing!”  I run out of the living room and head up the stairs.

 

“Hey! Lindsay!  Dinner!  Dad got us some pizzas!” I yell as I open her door.

 

“Brian!  Get out of my room!”  She yells back.

 

“Umm…hello…I’m not in your room.  I’m in the door way telling you to get your butt downstairs so we can all eat.” I snidely respond.

 

“Fine! I’ll be down in a second.” She huffs.

 

“Okay by me squirt.  It’s just more pizza for me.”

 

“Stop calling me a squirt you big jerk!” She yells back as I head down the stairs to scarf on some pizza.

 

I’m well into my second slice before Lindsay makes it down the stairs.  Mom and Dad are still looking kind of serious and Lindsay isn’t a dummy.

 

“Umm, Mom…Dad, what’s wrong?”  She asks as she sits down at the dinner table.

 

“It is nothing for you to worry about right now dear.  Your Dad and I will tell you about it later.” My Mom says with parental authority.

 

“Umm, okay.” She says while looking at me while I studiously avoid her gaze by grabbing my third slice of pizza.

 

The dinner conversation is pretty limited after that.  Lindsay definitely knows that something is wrong, but no one will say anything.  I finish off a record eight slices of pizza and two large glasses of milk before I feel full.  Lindsay just looks at me and says, “Gross” as she slowly nibbles on her second slice.

 

“May I be excused from the table?” I ask so that I can finish the mission before it is too late.

 

“Thanks Brian, sure, you may be excused from the table.” My Mom says.

 

Yippie!  I race up the stairs, close my door and plop down in my computer chair!