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DD

Chapter 18

The DHS sensitives were all really upset. Not only had I completely disappeared, but now the ley lines were shifting in a pattern that looked planned. In quite a few instances, critical junctions had moved away from the sensitives that had been camping out there just to wait for me to tip my hand. Because of the power diversions I was using, I had also deprived them of available power, doubly blinding them. The power rebound was giving most of the monster headaches and rendering them insensitive until they could recover. DHS 1 Us 4

The Guardian Shamen were very, very off-balance at my latest hijinks. Moving the ley lines was a feat they had not predicted. To be honest, they feared what repercussions it might have. They felt I was doing too much too soon and redoubled their efforts to locate me. It was, however, no use. My shield techniques were solid gold and my talent for them was getting stronger every day. On the other hand, they knew instinctively that I meant no ill to anyone, so they did not fear my intent. Still, while they were not completely blinded, like the DHS, the shifted ley lines had weakened them somewhat. Guardian Shamen 1, Us 3.

The husband and wife team were still airborne somewhere over Europe for eventual connection back to the US. They felt nothing and knew nothing. On the other hand, because they had almost no power, they were not affected by the ley lines shifting. Them 0, Us 3

The Russian psychics had problems. While using their talents in conjunction, 3 of their number had been astrally projecting along a ley line I had manipulated. It had stunned them to the point they were trapped half in and half out of their bodies. The rest had linked in an attempt to lend the stunned ones enough strength to reconcile themselves. They were beginning to think this had been a very, very bad idea. Russian Psychics 1, Us 6

The Chinese mystic had more problems then he could possibly handle. He could literally shield while he was asleep. He could also use his dreams as a chance to attack. He soon learned the futility of attack, awake, dreaming, or otherwise. What he could not grasp was not shielding. I was not so naiive as to think he would not eventually solve the riddle and escape the cycle. I was just confident it would not be soon! Chinese Mystic 2, Us 6

Fargo had finally realized that dire misdirection and had finally gotten pointed in the general direction of New Orleans. Being off the beaten path had saved the Crazies from being jumbled about like some of the other groups had been. Crazies 2, Us 3

Chapter 19

Robbie and Carrie were both staring at me like I had grown a 2nd nose. Or something. Actually, Robbie was doing her patented  ½ stare  ½ glare. Carrie didn't seem exactly happy with me either. I sighed and paid for my new sandals and sat down in a nearby chair and put my old shoes in the box and put on my sandals while I gave them my one hope for not being pounced on: my best innocent dumb puppy dog that had accidentally eaten Sunday lunch look. It failed pretty miserably. I sighed again and hunkered down to weather the worst of it as I finished buckling my sandals.

Robbie was the squall line and rained on me with, “DEE!!! Answer me! What did you do? And WHY?” By now, she'd realized she was verbalizing with the force of an airliner leaping off the tarmac. She motioned for Carrie to help her and grabbed my arm and heaved as Carrie realized what was being asked of her and scrambled to do likewise.

“What!?” I exclaimed at a slightly more subtle volume and tone of voice. I lunged for my purse and barely managed to hook the strap as they towed me away like a stalled automobile. “Hey, don't I get a clue where I'm being dragged?”

You, young lady, are going to apologize to the hunks!” Robbie was obviously not going to be swayed. Carrie was smirking and was not going to be a bit of help. Darned adoptive sister. Lot of good she was doing me, at the moment.

“Umm, first off, I'm going to rebel like a hungry mule if you call them “hunks” a single time more. Just to punctuate my determination, I planted my feet and showed how apt the description I had used would be. Robbie and Carrie both almost fell as their grips on my arms broke and they struggled to control their momentum. “Second off, how do you know where they are? Thirdly, why?” I guess you notice I ask “why” a lot. :P

Robbie rounded on me like a carload of teenagers on a prime parking spot at the mall. Yikes. “Dee, I'm surprised at you! You are always so sweet and considerate and compassionate at work, in fact, anywhere I see you! But now, just because some men (wow, I never realize how much venom she could put into one word!) help you up, you go beserk! Now you are going to march yourself over to the food court and apologize to them and then you are going to thank them for helping you!”

She grabbed at my arm again, Carrie quickly mirroring her. I returned the favor by firmly grasping their arms, too, and dragging them at right angles to their intended course, stopped in front of a bench by a fountain at a mall corridor intersection. Gently but firmly pushing them back against the bench so that they had to sit down, I spun and sat between them. “I will admit, I was angry. I will admit, I was mildly rude. I will also point out I did them NO HARM. I pushed them as gently as I did you to get you to sit on this bench. I will also point out I was pretty jangled from, as you so quaintly put it, ringing that girder like a gong at a Japanese restaurant. Now, I will do as you ask, if you ask, and you stop pulling me around like a red wagon.”

Robbie thought for a moment and it slowly dawned on her that I was not her 3 year old daughter, that I was an adult, and that I could be reasoned with. Well, after a fashion, anyway. I'm pretty weird and very stubborn. However, I'd already agreed to do what she wanted if she just relaxed a little bit. Deciding this was a battle she'd already won, if she just didn't push too hard, she said, “Ok, since you put it that way, will you please apologize the h... umm.... guys, and thank them for helping you?” Good save, huh?

“I already said I would. Come on and show me where the smelly apes went.”

I had been ready to dodge Robbie so I was caught by surprise when Carrie whacked me in the deltoid. “Stop calling them smelly apes! One of them might even by my future boy friend!”

Oh dear. “No, you called them hunks enough times that I get equal time because my opinion counts as much to me as yours does to you. I will, however, refrain from calling them smelly apes while the smelly apes are close enough to hear me. And that will have to do.” I crossed my arms and semi-pouted and she just sighed and gave up. “Walk already, I still don't know where the smelly apes are and I want to get this over with.”

Robbie responded with a full on glare, but the mouth open variety, to let me know she couldn't believe I was being such a prissy bitch, but she took me by the arm, much more gently this time, and led me back in the original direction. As we got back to the food court, she and Carrie stood on their tiptoes and kind of gazed around while I stood there more lamely than usual. Finally Carrie spotted them and pointed and we set off again.

As we neared their table, Robbie whispered, “Remember, you promised!” and released my arm.

I cruised to a stop in front of their table where they were scarfing down Chipotle's burritos the size of their forearms when they finally noticed us and looked up. “Umm, hi, I'm the rotten bitch that y'all helped up that pushed y'all away and stomped off like some kind of spoiled princess and I just wanted to apologize for my rudeness and thank you for helping me. Thanks, and I'm sorry for being rude. By the way, my sister here is currently between boyfriends and thinks y'all are hot.” As I had said the last I had pulled an empty chair between Carrie and me and had dodge back out of reach from both her and Robbie.

Carrie turned 3 shades of pink and red and orange and looked in danger of her ears catching on fire. Smirking at me when I'm down is dangerous, but I had my shields open to reading the empathic responses of the smelly apes and I knew that Carrie would have some phone calls tonight. What I didn't expect was, while the third one was watching a model quality blond 2 tables over, the forth one was interested in me. Houston, we have a problem! Thinking quickly, I pumped a sudden burst of power into getting him to notice the same blond and number 3 and hit him with a hormone burst as soon as he spotted her. His jaw dropped and he started drooling so I felt much more confident. Meanwhile, Carrie still needed some help with the guys. She probably needed help breathing, too, but one thing at a time. I pointed to smelly ape number one, “please give Carrie your hand so she can write her number on it.”

Carrie definitely needed help breathing now. As she turned to panic at me, I handed her a pen and made writing motions. She appeared to be on the verge of swallowing her tongue, but she wrote the number on his hand. Smelly ape number two already had the idea and needed no prompting to get his paw to Carrie A.S.A.P. for his copy of her number.

I smiled and and snuck a wink to the stunned Robbie and took my pen from Carrie's numb fingers and as I dropped it in my purse, said, “Well, thanks again and y'all have fun!” I linked arms with Robbie and Carrie and firmly guided them back away from the apes and towards Sam Goody's. I still hadn't gotten a new CD!

Robbie, being the less involved in all the shenanigans, recovered first. “What just happened?”

“I thought you might go with me to Sam Goody's, because I still haven't found a CD I want.”

By now, Carrie was almost remembering to breathe. “I just gave those two hunks my phone number.”

My turn to smirk. Until Robbie smacked me in the other deltoid. My turn to glare. “Whyfore you hit the weirdo?” Ouch, twice in the same deltoid and I don't seem to be as inured to a mild pounding as I was when I was fully male. “HEY! This is getting ridiculous!” She mimed doing it again, but only glared this time.

“You made her give them her phone number.”

“The first one is all about her bewbies and is a smelly ass. The second one thought she was cute and might not be so bad, just your typical smelly ape instead of smelly ass.”

Robbie opened her mouth to ask how I knew that, then remembered and shut her mouth again. Then she asked, “Which was which?”

I laughed. “I don't know, but I could point them out for you if I was standing in sight of them. You know I don't pay attention to men if I have a choice about it.”

They both caught my arm and pulled me back in the direction from which we had just come, but behind a large potted palm. We could easily see their table. I focused my senses and tuned my shields again. “Ok, the smelly ass is the one in the dark blue shirt. The smelly ape is the one in the white shirt. OUCH! OUCH! This has got to stop, I have as much right to call them what they are as y'all do whatever blarg it is you want to call them.” I crossed my arms and rubbed my deltoids where they had been punching me.

“I think instead of worrying about their shirts, I'll ask what color hair they have. They are more likely to remember that then what shirts they had on. You know how men are,” Carrie giggled.

I muttered, “Yes, smelly,” then took a step backwards and they smacked each other's hands and they tried to pop me in the shoulders again. I ignored their glares. Maybe they would stop hitting me now.

We finally got to Sam Goody's, which turned out to be our last stop of the day before we all split up and went home.

Chapter 20

[sorry, got too sleepy before I could finish this chapter, but it is in progress!]