Aberrant: Children of Heaven - Chapter One: All Together Now

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira glanced around for a long moment after they came through. She watched as John stepped through the portal, and before he did, she caught his hand and pressed his blue binder, that she had grabbed along with her ancient tome, into his hands.

"Take care, lad. We'll be seein' ye' again, I think."

She gave him a gentle, almost motherly kiss on the forehead, and offered up a silent prayer that the Goddess would watch over him. Then she waved goodbye as she disappeared through Zoey's portal, and it was Sebastian's question that finally startled her out of her reverie. She turned, actually looking around at the park for the first time, and then glanced at Zoey.

"Aye.. where are we lass? And are we where ye' planned ta' take us? We need ta' know that at least, to get our bearin's."

Though it seemed that no real time had passed, she pulled out her cell phone from her pocket and glanced at the time and date, just to make sure.

[Adrian Moss]

"We go to the closest gas station, I'll buy a map then find the closet university. Not only can we find a way to use their systems, we can also find advertisements for Internet Cafes."

Xavier looks to Sebastian,

"How does that sound?"

"Everyone else, we should figure out how much money we have. I've got over $700."

Seeing the looks,

"I carry around a lot of cash. Plastic is, well, plastic. It's also traceable now and we can't use them unless we plan on running right afterwards."

"What about everyone else?"

[Valentine Cormack]

Valentine fumbled around in his pants pockets and managed to produce two 1 Dollar bills. "That's all I got...".

He was a teenager, how much money was he supposed to have? He looked at his friends, if they were still his friends that is, and smiled nervously. It was embarrassing for him to admit that he had no money. His mom was struggling to pay the rent for their condo in the first place and he had no job.

[Wa'ne]

"That sounds fine. But don't look at me for cash, I'm tapped out."

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira nodded, looking a little frustrated.

"As am I - this all happened when I was at home, my things are in m'purse, I didn't have time ta' grab it as they were shootin'. I did'na even think about it, ah'm sorry. But fer now, anyway, this plan won't be costin' lots o'money. So let's do as ye' suggest."

Still, she turned to Zoey, shaking her head a little.

"Ah'm sorry, we got distracted lass. Where did ye' bring us to? An'.. are we where ye' intended fer us ta' be?"

[Adrian Moss]

"Yes please, tell me it is the United States," Xavier asks hopefully. "I mean, I imagine I could make some money given enough time, but I'm still not sure how much time we have."

He looked around. It looked affluent and white enough to be America ... but it could be somewhere in a modern European city too. He needed to look around. Hell, he needed to speak to someone who wasn't a part of this freak show.

[Zoey Black]

Zoey was sad that John was leaving but relieved that they wouldn't have to deal with kidnapping charges. She beamed when she discovered that they hadn't arrived with any noticeable time delay. "This is Houston, Tx. That big building right there is across the street from the Galeria, it's a nice mall, or was when I was a kid. I remember there was a lot of shopping around here and that I thought it was pretty. I don't know much else about the city, but the view from that big building is really good. My father had a business meeting here that he brought me to and we went up there to some office way up near the top. I always thought it would be neat to live up there and look out over the city."

She dug into her backpack and into it's secret pocket she had sown in herself and pulled out some twenties. I've got $100 bucks emergency money, but yeah, we shouldn't use plastic, and we should turn off our cellphones too. Law enforcement can track you with them, which means the ninjas might too." She hurried to turn hers off hoping it wasn't too late.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie felt his entire body tense when Zoey said 'Texas'. He'd heard of Texas. Everyone here own at least three guns, and they carried them openly. They were loud and wore big hats and ugly shirts. They were arrogant bullies, pushing everyone they could in the direction they wanted them to go. With panic on his features, he glanced around, hyper-vigilant, waiting for ninjas or wild cowboys to leap out at them.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira nodded then, drawing in a deep breath and trying to look prepared. It seemed that she was to be the one in charge of this little group, at least for now. The only other one who seemed equipped for that was Xavier, and he didn't seem to be taking that initiative. He'd had a good idea though, and so she decided it was time to act on it.

After checking with them all one last time to make sure no one was hurt, she led them out of the park. They walked till they found a QuikTrip, which was a gas station large enough to carry a decent map. She instructed Xavier and Sebastian to go pick out a map, and led the other three next door to the McDonald's. It wasn't ideal, but at least they'd have a table to spread a map out on, and there would be cheap food for anyone that was hungry. She'd realized as they'd been walking that she was starving again, and figured the kids probably were too. So they went ahead and ordered food, including whatever Sebastian and Xavier had requested when she'd outlined the plan, and by the time the two guys had gotten back, they had everyone's meals and had occupied a small group of several tables in the back corner of the fast food restaurant.

Moira had claimed a pair of two tables right next to each other for herself, for good reason. She took the map that Xavier held out to her and unfolded it, spreading it out on the table and sipping from her Diet Coke as she studied it for nearby colleges and libraries.

[The Story Guide]

The map was, as one would expect, a mass of crisscrossing lines and colored splotches with tiny print to tell you where you were looking at. There were dozens of libraries in the city, several within walking distance if the group didn't mind stretching their legs a bit; junior colleges were also dotted about the map, and the major university campuses were the light green areas stamped on the map. Those were farther away, but still doable since cab fare probably wasn't an option given the limited funds and seemingly unlimited appetites of the party. They were attracting curious stares from the other patrons, but the American personal space bubble, roughly the size of the state they were in, kept the curious from doing more than stare.

Click to reveal.. (Xavier)

Text message on your phone: Send report in tonight and try to get out of the country as soon as you can. Cameras are now your enemy and the eyes of your pursuers.

[Adrian Moss]

After they found the closest computer terminal. Xavier stopped to look around. He even found a 'nice' woman to help them log in under another name and password. That done, he wandered around on the periphery, checking his phone and generally keeping an eye out.

After a bit, he seemed to get an idea. Xavier wandered up to Zoey and asked her to step aside.

"Zoey, any idea on what your range is? I'm think that with their love of computers and technology this place - any place with computers and technology - isn't too safe. How does rural Mexico sound? From there, we can think about someplace in South America, even Africa. This would only be til we got our act together, but right now we need the time."

[Zoey Black]

Zoey thought about the suggestion then said, "I think I can handle that. How bout I surprise you again with our destination? Just let me know when you guys are ready to go. Oh, and let's get some food to go. I can hardly get enough to eat since this started. I don't know what's wrong with me."

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian sat down and logged into his Yahoo! account, hoping to see one of his parents, or even close relatives, online to help explain what in the Jiminy Christmas was going on.

[The Story Guide]

As soon as he logged on to his account there was a flashing message asking him if he wanted to talk to 'Ariel' in chat. The invite had come a few minutes after he'd gotten his text. Take a deep breath, he hit the 'accept' button and hoped he hadn't just told the ninjas where they were. A message came through immediately, and not the salutations and conversational tone he was hoping for.

Go to the nearest store that has a track phone and buy it with as minutes as you can. Call my beeper, I'll call you back. And son, don't trust anyone. I'm not sure what's going on, but someone is after our family and they've got money or power or both behind them.

Beeper? His father hadn't had a beeper for years, not since he retired from the Navy when Sebastian was still in single digit years. If he meant that beeper, it was going to take some mental digging to remember the number.

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian stood up quickly after logging out, looking around knowing he wouldn't see a store he wanted within sight, but looking anyway. His thoughts racing to the worst possible outcome, visions of his family laying dead in the fields while tornadoes screamed across the horizon. Himself powerless to stop any of it.

"I need to get to a Target, Best Buy, anything quick that'll have a Boost phone, now, please. My family is in trouble."

The well-taught manners keeping him from running for the door, he walked quickly out of the business and stared up and down the street, hoping to see where to go next.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Seeing no one following the young man, and concerned about anyone being alone, Eddie followed Sebastian out of the building and onto the street. There he silently shadowed him as he began his search, keeping his own eyes open for what the young man sought.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira was engrossed. They had arrived at the library, and having no clue that Sebastian's business would be as quick as it had been, she had excused herself briefly. A quick scan of the library's database had pointed her in the appropriate direction to start with, and she quickly motioned to Zoey and Valentine to come help her. She led them towards the non-fiction section, and quickly found a section related to Sumerian archeology. After piling Valentine up with books, she led them to another area and pulled several books related to sociology and religion in ancient Sumeria and the Middle East. After a couple more stops, the kids had lost track of where she had taken them - she knew only that they both had a huge armful of books, and so did Moira. She guided them to an empty table, and instructed them to stack the books up carefully. She had been holding her own book earlier, but reluctant to expose it to too much pollution or a possible accident, she had grabbed the bag that they map they'd purchased had been in, and wrapped the book in that, tying it off. She was going to have to find a better way to protect it, but for now it was better than nothing. She gently unwrapped it now, and opened it up on the table.

"Okay.. I'm going to start researching. Zoey, if you have a notebook in that backpack of yours, pull it out please. We don't have a ton of money for copies, so anything I point out I want the two of you to start copying by hand. Quickly please, but as legibly as possible. Most of it will be bits and pieces - we'll make copies of anything too large to realistically hand copy, okay?"

With that, she began to flip through the books at a brisk but studious pace, skimming for anything that looked even remotely relevant to the book, the end of the world, or the situation in general. Moira was only glad they were at a university library. Cloistered with their research, they were completely unaware that Eddie and Sebastian had left the building.

Click to reveal..

Rolling for research: 6d10 → [3,8,7,4,4,6] = 2 suxx, http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2177770/

[The Story Guide]

It took less than a block and half to for the two men to spot a Walmart, which while neither a Target nor a Best Buy, was ubiquitous enough to have Go phones and other pre-paid devices. Sebastian stood, staring at the plastic packaging around the phone and hoping he could remember the elusive pager number.

((Gimme a memory (int) roll, please.))

Back at the library, the three trudged on through mythology and anthropology books, the two teens mostly trying to keep their eyes open while Moira floated through the massive amount of information with the ease of practice. From was she could decipher, Sumerian mythology was at the root of most modern religions, eastern or western, or at least had the eldest recordings of the themes and modes of most ancient beliefs. There were gods, quite of number of them, and for the most part they either ignored or harassed humanity. The gods also had a strong attraction and association with gold, which again was not unusual for ancient mythologies or cultures although the lack of association with silver and the accompanying male/female duality of the metals is interesting. If you're an anthropologist.

The writing system on the pictures and drawings in the anthropology books bore a strong resemblance to the book Moira had been delivered, but they were not identical. The book's symbols looked....stronger....somehow, more powerful in the images and thoughts they were meant to invoke. That is, they would be had anyone been able to read them for the past 2500 years.

((Feel free to claim any knowledge on Sumerian mythology that you can google or pick of up Wikipedia.))

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian stood there, staring at the rack of phones, promising ease of use in their shiny plastic that took a steamroller to open. Overpaid marketing calling out to him to join the family of users on one of the most reliable networks in the country.

His eyes wandered over the price tags, stuck on the end of the pegboard fixtures, gazing at the barcode for the phone in his hands, it came to him.

Click to reveal..

(01:19:41) ChatBot: (Skins) rolls 3d10 and gets 9,9,10. [3]

Even I wouldn't believe this roll, so I had to show it off.

[The Story Guide]

Click to reveal..

Nicely done!

He stared at the black and white binary of the bar codes, his mind still whirling from far too much happening in far too little time, and something clicked. The numbers printed across the backdrop of his mind as he heard his father's voice, "This is for little emergencies, Sebastian, but if you even really need me and can't get to me any other way, just page me. Remember, your code is 769. Leave that as the message and I'll know it's you."

The memory was old and smelled like the kitchen with the wood floors from before the remodel they did on the house when he was 11. He could hear his mother, dimly and fading, as the memory slipped away.

"I wish you wouldn't keep those old habits. It reminds me too much of-"

"That's done with, dear. This is just good sense."

His parents continued their discussion, he knew, almost coming to a full argument, but the words and the sights had slipped away. All that remained was the pager number, and his code.

[Wa'ne]

"Ha!" Skins exclaimed in glee. "I got it! Eddie, I got it!"

Clutching the plastic clamshell in his hand, he rushed for the checkout in the electronics, only to stop short when he realized he didn't have the cash to pay for it, nor to put any minutes on it.

"Hey Eddieee, my main man. Spot your favorite forum friend a Benjamin?" Sebastian asked, sporting a cheesy grin.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Silently, Eddie dug out the money for the phone and handed it over. Since he had planned to travel, he had some cash on him. He would have offered it earlier, but he'd been too worried about phantom cowboys and mad Americans wielding guns longer than his arm to follow that conversation. He was still all nerves, waiting for an attack, but he could focus on a one-on-one better than group.

"What do you got?" Eddie asked, then grimaced and asked, "What do you have?"

[Wa'ne]

"I remembered my Dad's pager number. Its how I'll get a hold of him!" Sebastian answered, as he turned and walked to the register.

They had only just scanned the barcode when Skins produced his pocket knife and sliced the package open, leaving the money on the counter as he worked.

No juice in the battery...They have an idle charge, should be enough for a call.

The assembly done, and the perky tone announcing its connection to the network, he quickly dialed the pager service, and input the code. Sweat was starting to pour off of him as he got more nervous. He set the phone on the counter and stared at it, willing it to ring. He was ignorant of the Wal-Mart employee holding out his change and frowning at the mess on her work station. As the seconds passed, the temperature in electronics slowly began to rise.

[The Story Guide]

It never got the chance to pass 'might-be-warm' before the phone made strange chiming sound that Sebastian was pretty sure meant someone was calling. As soon as the phone was in hand and at his ear he heard a most welcome voice say, "Sebastion? Tell me you'll alright."

His dad's voice sounded tight and worried, but also different. It reminded him of how he sounded sometimes at practice, when the team just wasn't getting something or someone had been hurt. He always took a few minutes off after he reached that kind of tone, but now there was a coldness to it that made everything seem even more real and dangerous than it had.

The cashier finally rolled her eyes and thrust the change at the Japanese guy who seemed to have at least a little more of clue than the kid he was with. She swept the garbage off her counter and made little shooing motions to get them to move on; others were waiting for their twenty seconds with the sour faced woman.

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding when he answered the phone. "Yeah Dad, I'm fine. What the Hell is going on?!"

The exclamation had instantly made him the center of attention, but only briefly, as people pretended to ignore him and go about their business. Skins, feeling rather self-conscious and knowing he must be red as a beet, shuffled off to one of the empty aisles, waving at Wakiki to follow.

He cupped the phone to his face with both hands and whispered, "Is everyone okay? Where are you?"

[The Story Guide]

"We're all okay, son. Someone showed up in the middle of the night and attacked us at home. Where have you been? Are you alright? Are you in some sort of trouble?" There was a slight pause over the phone, but before Sebastian could reply his father added, "They were looking for you."

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie took the money and nodded apologetically, helping her pick up the last couple of pieces. Then he followed Skins quietly, trying not to eavesdrop on his conversation. He watched the crowds for cowboys and guns, ready to protect Skins if the boy needed it.

Something in him had been triggered by this change him, something that felt comfortable serving with the dripping of his blood and the sundering of his flesh. Whatever it was, it gave Eddie a deep sense of satisfaction.

[Wa'ne]

"You wouldn't believe the last day if I told you. USA Up All Night with Gilbert Godfrey pales in comparison. I have no idea why...well...I might have a small clue as to why their looking for me, but I don't know why. Whoever it was, they tried to kill us, and they nearly took out Zoey's parents. I'm not alone, there is a bunch of us. What should I do Dad? What should I do? This is freakin' crazy!"

[The Story Guide]

"First off, you've got to calm down; panicking will just make things worse. Now, you said you had an idea of why someone might be after you." The way his father said it Sebastian knew that his father hadn't thought these people were coming after the family because of Sebastian. His tone was even but severe as he went on, "What did you do? And who are these other people? Are they friends of yours from school? Have you gotten into something illegal?"

[Wa'ne]

"Dad, its not like that, you know me better than that, so don't go riding that horse." Sebastian said, getting defensive. "Some are from school, others are more tenuous relationships."

He paused a moment and looked at Wakiki for reassurance, making eye contact. The Japanese man nodded curtly to him and then continued gazing out the aisle, watching and staring down customers that dared to venture in to browse the alarm clocks.

Skins' voice lowered, but was more calm and collected as he continued, "You know how I've always thought there was something odd between me and the weather? How I always thought that God had it out for me? Well, it seems that I've managed a bit of control over it."

[The Story Guide]

There was a long pause, then, "Son, are you on drugs? Have you joined some sort of cult? Who are these other people?"

There was genuine concern in the questions, though still that undertone of dissapointment. Sebastian could here his mother in the background demanding the phone and his father half-covering the mic to answer her while he waited for Sebastian to say something sensible.

[Wa'ne]

"Dammit Dad, listen to me for once! I dreamt the tornado hitting the school, I made it rain, I lowered the temperature so much you could see your breath, I've walked through half a dozen transdimensional portals! I'm not even in the Northwest! You've gotta believe me!" Sebastian pleaded.

Someone has to!

"The people I am with all seem to have come into some kind of ability. Do you honestly think people would come to the farm and threaten the rest of the family just because I was smokin' crack?!"

[The Story Guide]

"No." The response was quiet and hinted that there might be other reasons someone would show up at their farm and threaten the family. Sebastian heard his father let out a long breath.

"Alright, you say you have some sort of transportation portal power? Then I want to see you. You're mother's about to have my head about it anyways. We're...." He hesitated just long enough for Sebastian to catch the hesitation, "We're near Mt. Baker National Forest. There's a small town called Darrington; it has a cafe called Mildred's on 1st Street. Meet me there in two hours."

[Wa'ne]

"I'm not---sigh, we'll be there. Seeya then." Sebastian said, before clicking the phone shut.

"Well Wak, we are a far cry from the forum, aren't we?" he said, forcing half a smile. "Let's get back to the others before they leave us behind."

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

"I doubt they do that," he said softly, falling into step behind the boy as they started to leave. "Young girls not leave handsome young men behind."

He kept his eyes open as they headed back to the others.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira had completely lost track of time. She rubbed the bleariness from her eyes, and closed the last book. A quick glance and confirmation from the other two teens let her know that they had copied all the info she had requested via hand, as well as the few things she'd decided they needed several pages from, and had passed them off to have photocopied. Those documents laid in a neat stack on top of the two notebooks, and Moira placed the last book on top of the stack of others for the librarian to put away.

"Alrigh', I think tha's it, at least fer now. I'll go through it all again later, an' see if I can connect any dots."

She was quiet for a moment as she rubbed a hand over her face one last time to bring herself back to reality, then she glanced around, her brow furrowing.

"Where in th' bloody hell are Eddie an' Sebastian?"

[Zoey Black]

Zoey found the exercise extremely tedious. It was like being back in school, research paper time again and she'd just finished that only three weeks ago. As she copied and copied and did a little more copying just for good measure her eyes began to lose focus and she found herself daydreaming. She wondered what her parents were doing and she was almost surprised by her own imagination. She could just picture them, her mother in her perfect little business suit skirt set and her father in starched shirt and tie sitting at the dining room table having lunch. They were talking, but she couldn't imagine what they were saying. They seemed very calm but she could see in their faces a tension that wasn't normally there.

That's when Zoey realized this was more than her imagination. She was really seeing them in the present. It must be some extension of her ability to travel to distant places. She was just about to mention it when Moria spoke.

"Uh, they went to get a trac phone. Hey, I just discovered a new facet of my power. I can see distant things. I just had this crazy vision of my parents sitting at the dinner table eating." She frowned, "I couldn't hear anything, that's annoying." She started to comment about using it to look into the boy's locker room, but then glanced sideways at Valentine and blushed and kept her mouth shut.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira relaxed a little at Zoey's comment, glad that the Asian man was off with Sebastian. It made her feel better about the young man's safety, and Moira didn't really fear too much for them here, buried in the middle of a billion bookshelves in a Texas University's library. It might be a false sense of security, founded on an almost unnatural love of places of learning, but it would do for now, to keep her calm and thinking.

"Zoey, lass, ye've got some of th' most useful abilities, it would seem. I dunna' suppose ye' can see back ta' th' apartment, can ye'? Is it.. th' way we left it?"

[Zoey Black]

"Um, sure, I can try." Zoey concentrated on the Apartment trying to imagine it while at the same time forcing the vision. It was an utter failure. She frowned and tried to concentrate even harder but it just was no use the harder she pushed the more firmly she seemed to be rooted in the library. Finally she gave up and sighed, "I'm sorry, when I did it a minute ago I was just thinking about my parents and it became so real... I don't know what's wrong I tried as hard as I could."

[Moira Fitzgerald]

"It's alrigh', lass. Don' concentrate so hard on it, tha's not how it happen'd fer ya' 'afore. Maybe if ye' jus' kinda think about it, like ye' were doin' w'yer parents. But don' worry, ye' may jus' be tired. After all, the book did'na do much fer me when I tried. Or.. it went wrong, somehow."

Her eyes got a far-away look for a moment, as her mind unwillingly reviewed the cataclysmic images she had seen when she'd tried to force the book for help. She shook her head, and smiled softly at Zoey.

"In fact, dunna' worry about it at all, lass. It's not important, not in the scheme o'things. C'mon.. let's pack all this up, an' go wait fer Eddie an' Sebastian."