Everything was going according to plan for a while. Then it all came unglued. Karen's lawyer located them in one of the interrogation rooms. Loran was furious. How could this guy be waiting for them before they got there? "I’m telling you counselor. Stay out of this. I will slap you with a federal suit for obstruction of justice."

CHAPTER XI

It was less than ten minutes after Loran and Jeff made a visit to Comm Tech, Randy heard about the two agents and made a quick phone call to Washington. This was getting out of hand. These two bozos were about to screw everything up. He wanted to know who authorized this investigation. Randy didn't wait for a reply. He told his men every one of them were to be in the building by o six hundred and don't come naked.

Everyone was really great yesterday. I went to the bathroom and washed my face so I didn't look like I was crying my head off. By the time I came out everyone had already eaten and the movie of the night had just started. They all said how nice I looked and then Emily let me eat on the couch with a tray and plenty of napkins so I didn't miss more of the movie. At least when I promised to be really careful, which I did. I didn't want to make a mess on their nice furniture at all, or my pretty new clothes.

I haven't been to a lot of malls but this one seemed big. Because it was friday there were a lot of people here too. For a bit I was almost looking forward to this even in the dress. The twins kept talking about how fun it was going to be. This was their world. Some of their excitement was rubbing off on me maybe. No less than two nurses said how cute I looked at the doctors. It was a different cute though, the cute of a little girl looking like her mommy made her all pretty.

Stepping out of his room he felt alive sort of, like reborn. What ever happened now he was just going to do what he liked. He finally didn't care what other people thought. Before he just pretended he didn't care, he knew that now. Now it was real, he was really free to just be “self” whatever prefix the world wanted to add to it was fine.

Mostly I just stared out the window as we drove to the new house. Kelly sat in back next to me which seemed to annoy John who was our driver again. He had to take out one of the car seats, likely had to put it back in later too. If I had my way he would have taken both of them out but I was use to them by this point.

The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.

The hole punched through space with a mighty boom. Large rings undulated around the corridor with mysterious, alien function. They opened into a great rock cavern supported by pylons. It lead to a polished floor adorned with trophies of battles past. These were the first steps into a secret home of superheroes, tucked away under Mount Justice.

Kelly was extra perky this morning for breakfast. I almost think she’s keeping a secret or something. Super perky Kelly who couldn’t even stop smiling to chew her food told me she might miss lunch because she had an important phone call. I nodded, it was kind of good because this new level of perky was starting to creep me out a little. I still liked her. Well, I decided I liked her a day or two ago. Until she crossed some line somewhere she keeps that status. Not many make it there.

I knew it was going to be bad. They never call us into the living room this late. It’s their television time together they call it. This time the television was off though. Definitely something bad, and were part of it. I don't think we did anything. Were we too loud? I was just reading I don't know how that was bad…

“I’m sorry kids.” Mr. Lopez said. “There's really no easy way to say this. I haven't been working for a few weeks now. I was hoping I could find something. It’s just not happening as soon as we wanted.”

Mike was asked to cover a shift by a knowing friend on their birthday. Because the scheduling boss made an incorrect assumption, he ended up being something he could only dream of.

*** Prologue ***

“I’m going,” I said adamantly to Broderick, gripping my bow in my left hand. “If they’re after me I deserve to know why.”

“We can send you a memo,” Broderick said, dropping a netted bag of lemons into a canvas backpack along with a few packages of crossbow bolts. “Have you ever been in a real fight? And by that I mean a fight where you didn’t get one of the most important people in your life killed?”

“Excuse me?” I clenched my fist, my face beginning to burn a deep red. “There was NOTHING I could do for Meredith!”

“Angela?” I perked up a bit, turning and placing my hand on the steel tubing that comprised the rail of the wooden bridge. I saw the girl, her jet black hair coursing with the flow of the wind, her wedge heels clipping the uneven planks. She looked just like any other girl really, apart from the paleness and the deep blue eyes.

“I don’t mean to be a dick, by any means,” Broderick said as he stood behind his desk in the basement of Howell’s. “But we need to step up our game.”

He was leaning on his desk, arms spread and palms open against the surface. He had what I could only describe as the most pissed off look that I had ever seen on his face and I had no idea what was going on. The rest of us, minus Craven, were gathered around the desk waiting for whatever news he was about to drop on us.

Mike was asked to cover a shift by a knowing friend on their birthday. Because the scheduling boss made an incorrect assumption, he ended up being something he could only dream of.

“Welcome to your new home,” Rhea stepped into the house, backward, her arms dramatically outstretched. “It’s not as big as Angela’s house, but it’s home.”

“We…live here alone? Just us?” I looked around, noting that the place WAS much smaller. It was a single story house with aging wood floors, faded walls, and furniture that looked like it came from a thrift store.

“I live here too,” Mellie said, walking into the house and passing by me and tossing her purse on the couch.

“Everyone here has something to lose,” Broderick paced back and forth. We were sitting the basement office, just below Howell’s pub, as I’d come to learn. There were seven of us here. Broderick, Mellie, my sister, and a few other people I hadn’t met yet. I was sitting on the desk, Meghan beside me, her hand in mine. “Everyone here, in this room, save for the vampire, is a member of house Greystem-“

“Wait, what?” I interrupted. “Greystem?”

My vision swam and my emotions raged as I was flung from the mirror and my body slammed against an old wooden floor, glass and debris bouncing, dust scattering after years of dormancy. I gasped for air and reached my hand upward toward the massive full-length framed mirror from which I had just been ejected. I scampered to my feet, rushed back toward the mirror, barely managing to keep myself standing. My arm outstretched I ran to it, slamming my hand against the glass. It shattered. The shards fell from the frame and turned to dust as they collided with the floor.

“Pay attention,” Meredith tapped the old dusty book in front of me with her switch. She hadn’t used it on me lately but she really loved using it as an implement. “Without referring to the book, tell me the name of the Seelie court, in old Fae.”

“’Allo,” I responded, hoping I wasn’t messing it up.

“And the inner sanctum?”

“Alloquandirm,” I said a little uncertainty. The look on her face told me I was wrong.

“Alloquandirum,” She corrected me. “You’ve gotta get that ‘u’ in there.”

“Sorry,” I shrugged. “It’s a lot to learn and-“

That there was a total look of disbelief on Randy's face would be an understatement. "Mother of Mary, that thing really thinks better than we do?"

He stooped over to see if he could find any answers under or behind the desk. Picking up the keypad he felt along the top of the desk.

"Please Mr. Shells, if you must call me something, I would prefer you call me the same thing Karen does. My name is Henry. Although 'thing' may be appropriate in your mind when you refer to the unknown, it does not endear you with me. I understand the nature of humans to do name calling when they’re mad, frustrated, and scared. It serves no useful purpose to do so at an inanimate object."