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

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian and Eddie walked in, just as the 'research' group had made their way to the front of the library. He wasted no time walking up to the group with his new cell in hand.

"Zoey, we need to get to a cafe in Darrington called Mildred's, on 1st, tell me you know the place." Skins pleaded.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie came in behind, as quiet and unobtrusive as usual. He waited for the others to make the decision. He didn't have anything to add, and he'd been more withdrawn since the loss of his art.

[Zoey Black]

Zoey nodded, "Yeah, I know it. Appearing right in the place would be a bad idea. Big hole in the air might freak people out a bit. How bout I bring us to someplace close. Give us a chance to scope the place out and make sure we aren't walking into a trap?"

She looked to the others for confirmation that this was a good idea.

As she thought about it seemed that she could see the place in her mind. She could see the people in the cafe eating and the waiters and she moved her vision looking around. She grinned, Moria had been right, the more she concentrated the less she could see, but now when she hadn't been trying the vision had just opened right up for her. She moved the scene out the door and around the building to the alley behind it. She looked around to see if it would be safe to appear there.

Click to reveal..

ESP:

(06:28:25) ChatBot: (Zoey) rolls 6d10 and gets 7,2,4,10,4,8.

(06:28:30) ChatBot: (Zoey) rolls 1d10 and gets 2.

Successes: 3

Rolling to see if she spots any thing dangerous or witnesses: Perception + Awareness

(06:31:48) ChatBot: (Zoey) rolls 8d10 and gets 6,4,6,7,8,9,10,10.

(06:31:53) ChatBot: (Zoey) rolls 1d10 and gets 2.

successes: 5

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira murmured quietly to the others after watching Zoey for a minute, her voice hushed so as not to bother the girl.

"I think she's able ta' see the place, it would seem that's part of her abilities. Useful. But what's at this place, lad? Why are ye' wantin' ta' go there?"

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian nodded to Zoey, "That's fine."

He turned to the fiery temptress, "Got a hold of my parents, gonna meet them there and do some fuckin' scrapbooking! Whaddya think we're gonna do?" He spat in frustration.

"...I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he immediately sank on himself. If Sebastian would have been sporting a tail, it would most assuredly be tucked between his legs right now. "This is just so much to deal with. I'm sorry."

[Moira Fitzgerald]

"It's alright.. it's alright, lad. We're all at our wit's end, an' sick a' runnin'. I don' know about the rest of ye, but I know I'm tired, an' I'm sure everyone else is too. I don' know when we're goin' ta' be able ta' stop, an' rest, an'..."

Moira trailed off, and shook her head slightly. She placed a hand on Sebastian's shoulder and squeezed it gently, as much to reassure herself as to reassure him.

"Ah'm sorry, lad, I'm ramblin' now too. That sounds like a fine next step - better than anythin' else at the moment."

She waited patiently for Zoey to come back to them, and open up the portal to their destination.

[The Story Guide]

The small woodsy town was nestled just at the edge of the forest. Main street was six blocks long and lined with stone-faced buildings that had weathered the years like fine wine; the people bustled about looking fairly contented with life. Zoey's views felt like a close-up Google terrain map, not zoom-able really, but with a nice bird's eye perspective. Other than the few loitering teens that seemed enough like the goth crowd that she was usually lumped in with to annoy her, nothing seemed sinister or out of place. Well, out of place in comparison to last few....hours....day(s)? Perspective was everything. She got a good enough look to feel reasonably sure she could open up a gate or hole or whatever it was, and there was the one alley in the whole town between the grocery store and the hardware store that'd be just large enough and give them some little bit of privacy.

[Zoey Black]

Zoey came back to herself and glanced around to make sure everyone was there a and ready to do. "Ok, we're going to come out in the only alley in town. No one is close enough to see and I don't see any enemies, but that doesn't mean much when it's ninja's you are up against."

Making sure no one was able to see them here she moved into position and concentrated. She used her energy to make the two places the same and suddenly they were. "Ok, all aboard that are going aboard." She waited for everyone else to go through before moving through herself. On the other side was the alley, not too dirty. Even the sides of the buildings were clean except for a little graffiti.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie stepped through first, moving with his uncanny grace to hop through the gate. Somberly, he looked around, his dark eyes searching for ninjas, offering himself as the first target to any attackers.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Being one of the other two adults present, Moira motioned for Adrian to follow at the end with Zoey, and then stepped through herself, glancing around nervously on the other side of the gate to see if they had been noticed.

Click to reveal..

Rolling straight perception: 3d10 → [9,6,4] = 1 suxx

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian stepped through, not all too worried about finding 'ninjas' in Podunkington. He was more worried about what was going on, why any of it was happening and what on this side of God's Green Earth did it have to do with him?

"I know we're all walkin' on rice paper here, but I don't think we have much to worry about in the middle of the public...Witnesses guys."

Sebastian walked past Eddie with all the arrogance and feeling of invincibility that only being a teenager can bestow and headed towards the end of the alley, his head bobbing back and forth looking for the diner. He was well beyond his last nerve, the normal reserved, polite, Christian boy was now running on pure testosterone.

[The Story Guide]

Xavier caught up with them a few minutes before Zoey opened her portal. He looked....harried. "Hey, guys, I kinda have an emergency. Valentine? I could really use your help, if you don't mind. It should only take a few hours and they we'll catch up."

There was a brief argument, but Xavier was hard to resist when he decided he wanted something. They agreed to make contact in four hours via Xavier and Sebastian's phones and go from there.

**************************************************************

A slight rustling was heard behind one of the two dumpsters in the alley way and then a deep male voice.

"Sweet Mother of Jesus, you were telling the truth." A man bearing enough resemblance to Sebastian for the quicker members of the group to pick up had stepped out from behind the dumpster. He was dressed in a faded t-shirt and khaki slacks; he looked professional enough at first glance, but one could almost mistake him for being in fatigues. He wiped his hand over his face and through the thinning hair that was starting to go salt-and-pepper on him.

The shock lasted only long enough for that exclamation; then he looked them all over, squared his shoulders, and nodded to his son. "Alright then, if this is the game for real this time then there's a lot to tell you all and even more to figure out after that." He frowned at the size of the group, eying Eddie and Moira with a suspicion spared the other teenagers.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie spun to face the noise the second he registered it. He was in a defensive stance, one fist close to his chest while the other was pointed at the arrival's toes. When he saw that the man belonged there, he relaxed, but his eyes didn't stop scanning the darkness for other threats. He also didn't stop seeing the man as a possible attacker. His glances at the man were filled with at least as much suspicions as those he received from him.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Wanting to avoid any unnecessary problems, Moira stepped forward and held a hand out to the other man, looking as professional as possible considering the circumstances.

"Ye' must be Sebastian's Da' - I apologize, I dunno know yer name sir, for yer lad and I have only have been only briefly acquainted. M'name is Moira Fitzgerald.. I run a small business in Portland. An' ye'..?"

[The Story Guide]

His eyes ran over Eddie's, his stance only ever so slightly adjusting to Asian man's readiness; he almost looked approving. He nodded to Moira, "Gregory Knight, Ms. Fitzgerald, but let's wait on the rest of the introductions until my wife's seen her son." He motioned to the cafe across they street that they could see peeking out at them from the end of the alleyway. "There's a back room for parties, and as far as the staff is concerned we're celebrating my retirement."

He ushered the group out of the alley and into the cafe, with a nod to the waitress that they'd want drinks and menus. Sebastian's mother was waiting and fretting, but instead of the emotional outburst that might have been expected she simply pulled Sebastian into a tight hug and then let him sit. Next to her was a young girl only barely into her double digit years. She watched the newcomers with large eyes and didn't say much; she smiled when she spotted her brother.

Gregory sat and waited for the waitress to bring their drinks and take their orders. "Get what you need, lunch is on me," was his only comment as people debated what to order and how much. As they ordered they could feel his eyes on them, taking in every detail and evaluating them. After all the others had ordered, he added one of every appetizer they had on the menu and three of the party platter entrees.

After the waitress had left he leaned back and spoke to his son, "We'll do names and everything in a minute, but first I need to ask you a few things. Have you been eating everything you set eyes on the past couple of days? Any strange hallucinations or waking dreams? Have you had any sort of urges to go any particular place? Other than the powers you said you've gained, has anything else changed about your body or your mind?"

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian returned the hug, eager for the familiarity and the support that only a mother can give and he visible relaxed and the strain lifted from his eyes as he sat down and roped in his sister.

He wasn't shy about ordering food, he was starving, and even after ordering 2 plates of food with a side of pancakes, he wondered if he should have added on that Reuben.

I'll get dessert.

Originally Posted By: Dad

After the waitress had left he leaned back and spoke to his son, "We'll do names and everything in a minute, but first I need to ask you a few things. Have you been eating everything you set eyes on the past couple of days? Any strange hallucinations or waking dreams? Have you had any sort of urges to go any particular place? Other than the powers you said you've gained, has anything else changed about your body or your mind?"

"Yes, sir. About the eating and dreaming. No urges or other changes that I've noticed so far...what's going on Dad, what do you know?"

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira followed Sebastian's lead and ordered a large amount of food herself - far more than a slender woman like herself would consume unless she was incredibly athletic, which wasn't the appearance she presented. If the world ever righted itself again, and Moira found herself with access to her own money she would make sure to do what she could to express her gratitude for his generosity. But right now they were in too precarious a situation to be picky.

Her expression in response to his questions for his son was a startled one, and she listened attentively to see what he said, or what information he gave. She stayed quiet for now though, letting Sebastian deal with his father.

[Zoey Black]

Not being as patient as Moria, Zoey spoke up, "Wait, Mr. Knight, are you saying you know something about this? This has happened before or something? What can you tell us of what's going on? Are these powers going to disappear?"

[The Story Guide]

He held up his hands, "Possibly, that's why I asked the questions. That and to know what we're going to need for the next little while. And what those people are going to be looking for." He nodded to Zoey, "Yes, this has happened before, and no, I don't know why."

He shifted a little uncomfortably in his chair, "I'll get into a bit more after we get our food and we can shoo the waitress out for long enough. As for the powers....I don't know. Everyone I've known about that showed those powers....well, they didn't survive long enough to see if the abilities tapered off or went away." His eyes were serious and without a hint of sadness as he said this, but as he looked at each of his 'guests' in turn, there was compassion in the expression.

"So, until we can talk a little more freely, why don't we get to know each other a little bit?"

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie had found a seat, greatly relieved by the presence of the man's family. He looked to have a military bearing, which meant in America that he was gun-crazy. He'd be either ex-military or pseudo-military. But having his family around reduced the chance that he'd fire on them. Even Americans had more sense than that.

His words brought no comfort however. 'Didn't survive long enough?' What did that mean? Eddie longed to ask but wasn't sure how to say it, and his natural shyness held his question.

At the man's invitation to introduce himself, Eddie rose long enough to bow and stammer out, "Izumi Wakiki. Pleased to call me Eddie."

[Moira Fitzgerald]

After Eddie sat back down, and Sebastian started talking with his family - albeit awkwardly - about more mundane things until the food arrived, Moira leaned over and murmured quietly to Eddie, deciding to try something she hadn't thought of till now. She spoke in Japanese.

<I hope you do not think it rude of me, but I thought perhaps this would be more comfortable for you, Izumi-san. Are you alright? I know we are all tense and scared, but you seem.. more on edge than the rest of us. Is there anything I can do to help?">

Most of the only Americans that Wakiki had encountered who spoke his native language did so because of their love of anime and Japanese culture. Many times they weren't sure of the wording, or loved to repeat the few simple phrases that they knew over and over again, in order to appear well-learned. Moira's Japanese was somewhat accented, but she didn't trip or stumble over her words, and she seemed to know, at least somewhat, the proper etiquette. It was certainly easier to understand than her accented English, for at least he wasn't attempting to translate what she was saying through her regular Irish lilt.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie stared at her for a moment in shock, then relief swept over his features. <"I do not think you can help, Moira-san,"> he replied, overly politely. <"I am... unaccustomed to many people."> It was probably rude to point out that Americans were scary. She wasn't American, so perhaps she would understand, but she might have adopted this country and find offense. It was best to avoid it.

<"I am also unaccustomed to fighting shinobi,"> he added, giving his place setting a little smile. He still wasn't meeting her eyes very well; she was far too attractive for him to be comfortable with. <"I find this all very unsettling.">

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira nodded, and tried to smile reassuringly at the shy Japanese man. That was the best she could figure, that he was nervous and shy, and so the worst thing she could do would be to try and force anything out of him for now.

<"I must agree with you, Izumi-san. I am unaccustomed to seeing visions. Knowing you could not fight shinobi before, and that everyone can do these odd things.. it is the only thing keeping me from thinking I am going crazy. After all, who sees visions, other than crazy people, right?">

She took a sip of her water, and glanced over at Sebastian's father briefly, before turning back to Eddie. Her expression was an odd mixture of relief and concern, and her statement only supported the expression.

<"I suppose it's good that someone seems to have some idea of what's going on. Although how good that, or how much he knows remains to be seen.">

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

<"Seers and wise women,"> Eddie answered without thinking and was startled that he spoke up at all. He bowed his head, not sure what to do, and so he bowed. At her next statement, he peered at Knight-san and considered. <"I hope he has the answers we need,"> Eddie added simply.

[The Story Guide]

Gregory peered back and arched a brow at the two. "Ready to join the rest of us again, hm?" The question managed to be both a censure for carrying out a conversation in another language and a amused observation.

He was about to go on when the procession of waitresses and manager came through the double doors into their private room. Plates were passed out and the food that they could fit on the table was laid out; the rest was put on a buffet table that was moved into the room. The manager, a baldy and pudgy man with permanently flushed cheeks, hovered nervously over his well-paying guests until Sebastian's mother sent him scurrying out with a well-timed word about how much she enjoyed her privacy when eating with friends. Sebastian had never seen his parents act so....devious? He couldn't quite pin it down, but they were both just a bit different from how they normally were. Then again, nothing had been normal for days now. His sister was watching everything with wide eyes, especially the food.

For a while there was the only the sound of a great deal of food disappearing very quickly. As appetites were slaked and the manager was shooed off as second time, Gregory cleared his throat. "Now, I think we're all ready for some Q and A."

He glanced at Sebastian and gave him an odd sad smile, then pulled out a cell-phone sized device and pressed a series of buttons until it beeped. "There. We'll have four, maybe five hours before anyone that might be looking will be able to pinpoint the static. We can talk as freely as we'll ever be able to."

Sebastian's mother frowned and sighed, "I guess we really are back on the map then."

"They promised to leave our family out of all this, Claire; obviously someone missed the memo." Sebastian had never really thought of his father as dangerous but his father's tone of voice sent shivers through everyone there. To the others Gregory said, "Many years ago I served my country with pride, distinction, and clearance level I'm pretty sure the less than two dozen people on the planet even knows exists. I was on an assignment chasing down.....a person of interest; I'd been chasing them through most of the Indian subcontinent and through eastern China and into the Mongolian Steppes. This guy...he went through towns like a natural disaster, killing entire families in the houses just to spend the night there and move on the morning. I'd nearly caught up to him when he came across one of the nomadic tribes in Mongolia; I figured I'd be looking at his largest massacre yet by the time I could actually get to encampment. Instead, I found the village going about it's morning routine and getting ready to set out for the summer. I'd nearly left, thinking he must have turned somewhere and that I'd probably lost another day or two of his trail when the village healer sought me out. He was young man, couldn't have been much over twenty, and he took me to the man I'd been chasing. He was sitting behind the healer's tent, calmly washing a basket of roots and tubers. He knew his name and had few memories up to about the age of eight, and other than that he was a complete blank."

He took a breath and sip of water before going on, "I demanded to take him; memory or not, and I was pretty sure that was some sort of sham, he was wanted in more countries than this tribe probably knew existed for crimes that have no business being repeated at a dinner table. The tribe disagreed. They said that a 'Sky-Touched' had removed all the evil from the man and that he had been granted a second life amongst the horse people. As he was now a member of the tribe they would resist, with a great deal of force, if I tried to take him. So I asked who and what this 'Sky-Touched' was and where I could find them, and how they had managed to erase most of a man's life."

"I was told a Sky-Touched was a person gifted by Earth and Sky with magical powers. In the shared history of the tribes the legend ran as far back as the oral history of the people. It says that every once in a while the gods would call upon one or some of the tribes and grant them powers to carry out the gods' will; the Sky-Touched are held in reverence and in fear, for the gods' can be kind or cruel or simply capricious, and very few have any particular love for mortals. This particular Sky-Touched, a young girl not even into her teens yet, had been given gifts to know the thoughts of men and to be able to alter their minds. She had been travelling with different families, settling disputes and healing the mentally ill, when one day she'd just walked out of her current camp and headed west. She'd shown up about ten minutes before my target had and had stood outside the camp in the direction he'd be coming from. She apparently just looked at him and then he'd wandered into the center of camp asking for his mommy. Then she headed west again saying only that she'd been called to the Temple of the Dragon and that the man was now the tribe's responsibility."

"I warned them again that the man was dangerous, but I wasn't going to kill a whole Mongol tribe just because they believed some old folk stories. I made my way far enough from the camp and sent word back to my handler of the situation. I figured I'd be told to go in and take him in the night a few days later if he didn't try to leave on his own. I was wrong. Once I mentioned the girl and the Temple of the Dragon, I was cut off and reassigned to find her."

Another pause and another sip, "Now, in my previous occupation information was the only currency worth anything and I wasn't usually told half of what I'd end up needed to complete an assignment. So I did what my kind do, and I dug up everything bit of information I could lay hands on floating around about the Sky-Touched and this temple. Turned out that there'd been dozens of reports through Asia in the past half dozen years about people acting strangely or doing impossible things, and a good number of them disappeared after saying something about a temple, a dragon, or just 'being called' somewhere. They also seemed to either start eating everything in sight or in a couple of cases just stopped eating or drinking all together without an apparent ill effects."

He stopped there for several moments, letting the others interject with any questions, comments, or revealing reactions; beside him his wife pecked at her food peevishly.

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian was in numb shock as he glanced back and forth between his parents, his eyes slightly widened in disbelief.

"'We', Mom?" Skins started, "What do you mean, 'we'?"

He turned to his Dad before his mother could answer, his voice raising an octave as he started to panic, "Does this mean we're gonna die? Are we gonna disappear after some juju Dragon Temple yanks us into oblivion? You didn't get reactivated to take us in, did you?"

Rationality was completely out the window.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira wished she could reach out to the boy, but she couldn't - he was sitting with his family, and she was on the other side of the table. But she glanced past them for a moment to gauge the reaction of the servers to the slight outburst, then she caught his attention with a low, firm voice and a steely, "I mean business" sort of expression.

"Sebastian - I'm sure your Da' isn't here ta' take ye' anywhere. He's tryin' ta' help, so give 'im a chance to explain everythin'. If this were a trick, I doubt he would'a bought us dinner first. He would'a been ready for us ta' show up, I'd imagine. An' I doubt he would'a been givin' ye' so many tips ta' keep us outta danger, either."

She was careful not to voice her own concerns about "juju" Dragon Temples. After all, Moira was a scientist and a pagan. Just because she didn't buy every old wives tale out there didn't mean she wasn't a touch superstitious. Even if she weren't pagan.. she was Irish. And it was hard not to feel a little afraid of the impossible when you were living it.

[The Story Guide]

Gregory nodded at Moira. "It honestly bothers me that so far we haven't been contacted. You can retire, but your handlers are there for life." He sighed, "As for the dying, I don't honestly know. Most of the....of them...were murdered, either by each other or by concerted efforts of normal people. And we never found the temple; we figure - figured, it's somewhere in Mesopotamia, but we couldn't ever get a closer geological fix."

He looked around the table, "Do any of you have any idea who was coming after you? Do you have any specific plans on what you're going to do next?"

[Wa'ne]

Sebastian kept quiet after his outburst, he was embarassed and felt stupid to boot. He knew the question wasn't directed at him, so waited for everyone else to respond.

He would do whatever his Dad told him to do at this point, he was obviously better trained and had a better idea of what was going on.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

"Mesopotamia..."

The Irish beauty looked lost in thought, at least for a brief moment. Then she shook her head and focused on Gregory with a slight frown of concentration.

"We don' know fer sure. Ninja's, perhaps? No - that's an assumption.." She was quiet for a moment as she tried to relive those moments, and she spoke as she remembered, not so much to Gregory as in his presence.

"They wore dark clothes.. an' they carried guns. They weren't afraid ta' use 'em, either. They could run on the walls, that part was unbelievable. But I heard 'em, bangin' up th' steps like a herd o'buffalo. So I dunna' think them ninja, or not good ones, anyway. M'be some sort o'military? We took the lad, John, back ta' his folks, an' now I dunna' know how comfortable I am with that choice. As fer what we're goin' ta' do.. I canna' say I know. This has been very.. fast."

[Zoey Black]

Zoey frowned, "Mesopotamia. That's like where the bible's from or something isn't it?" She thought a minute, "I think I'd need pictures or even better, some video in order to be able to travel there. So the question is, are we the next generation of suckers who have to finish this quest you guys started? Do we need to find this temple place?"

[Moira Fitzgerald]

Moira's lips twitched slightly - thought whether it was with amusement or annoyance was hard to tell.

Ach, kids these days.. don' they teach 'em anythin' in school anymore?

"Zoey, lass, maybe I can' help wit' that a bit. Ancien' Mesopotamia is in the location known as modern-day Iraq, mostly, and a bit o'modern day Iran. You know.. where we're fightin' a war an' all? So I don' suggest we just pop into any back alleyways there. An it is.. kinda.. where the Bible's from, but not in the way that yer thinkin', ah'm pretty sure. The original stories out o' the early parts in the Bible are at least set in Mesopotamia, an' some are adapted off o'Sumerian myths, like th' story o'Noah.. myths and legends that were modified and passed on ta' later societies, which eventually wrote them inta' the Bible. Mesopotamia is mostly b'tween two rivers, called th' Tigris and th' Euphrates. They're the third and fourth rivers tha' flow from the river o'the Garden o' Eden in the creation myth from th' Bible, an' the Euphrates is one o'the borders o'the land given by God ta' Abraham. It's th' earliest known civilization in th' world - th' cradle o'civilization, lass.. the first ones ta' form city-states, an' the foundation for most modern civilizations. The Sumerians were th' first ta' practice writin', agriculture, an' the first ta' use th' wheel."

She was quiet for a brief moment, her eyes flickering up to Gregory and holding the other man's gaze for a moment, even as she continued to speak.

"It's where my colleague at th' university thought th' book ta' be from."

[Zoey Black]

"Oh, Cool!" Zoey's face lighted up a bit in understanding, "So can the book help us locate this temple place, or do we even need to go there? Maybe with the book we can avoid it?"

Her face darkened as a thought occurred to her thanks to her cynical goth nature, "Wait a minute. Where did the book come from? Maybe someone's trying to lure us into a trap?"

[Moira Fitzgerald]

She frowned a little, and bit her lower lip in concentration. Suddenly her fingers were itching to get a hold of the book again, to pull it out and start flipping through the pages to see if she could figure out anything new with this additional information.

"I don' know, lass. It was delivered ta' me, like I told ye'. I wish I could read the damned thing, but I don't know Sumerian. I might be able ta' find someone.. but I don' know if I can contact them wit' this. I don't want ta' put anyone in danger. An' I would need ta' be able to access a computer - an' not for a short period o'time, either - ta' try an' research it enough to break any of it down. Even then, there's no guarantee. I don't even know if it's actually written in Sumerian or not.. Dr. Di - m'contact that I spoke wi' before, suggested it might be some sort o'replica or fake, because of th' bindin'. They didn't bind books then! They did'na even have paper, they were still writin' on animal skins an' stone tablets!"

She let out a deep sigh, trying not to look frustrated. Gregory sat quietly, observing them all with the patience of someone who was more than willing to absorb whatever it is the group felt like sharing between each other.

[The Story Guide]

Claire spoke up after the lull in the conversation, "Could I see this book, please? Do you have it with you?"

Before Moira could reply she sighed and turned to her son, "Sebastian, please stop looking at me like I've grown an extra head. I used to work for the Pentagon, as a forensic anthropologist and then as a geneticist once I got my Ph.D. I met your father during the first outbreak, while they were trying to figure out what the link between the affected people was. Is, apparently." She didn't sound exasperated, just a little upset. Skins knew that his mother got this way when was worried, which was a welcome bit of normalcy even if it meant that she was worried.

[Moira Fitzgerald]

She nodded, thought she looked a bit reluctant, and picked up the bag that she had claimed from Zoey for the book. She carefully pulled it out, and unwrapped it from the acid paper she had it protected with. One glance at the book made Claire realize why the beautiful archeologist was reluctant to pull it out - while she was an expert on the human body instead of material artifacts, she could see the distinct signs of age, emphasized only by the fact that as she stood up and sat it down in front of her, still supported from behind by the paper, she pulled out a simple cotton glove from her pocket. She never had taken it off in all the confusion, had completely forgotten about it until the reached the library. So after she had finished thumbing through the book there, she had tucked the glove into her pocket for safekeeping. Now she held it out to the other woman so that she could use it to flip through the book without damage.

"Please be careful - I dunno know how old the damned thing is. It might vera well be older than th' pyramids o'Giza."

[Wa'ne]

But you did grow an extra head! Sebastian thought to himself. These were not his parents, they couldn't be! His parent's were farmers, not those he would put in the league of Jason Bourne...or Lara Croft.

"It can't be real, there is no way, our picture is in it!"

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

"Can it be any more unreal than what has already happen to us?" Eddie asked, then wished he hadn't spoken when several people looked at him. He swallowed past the heart that had jumped into his throat and said, "After all we have been done, I find this book to be the least unusual and troubling thing we have encountered."

He pressed his hands into his knees to hide their shaking.

[The Story Guide]

Claire took the book from Moira with the same care and attention to detail that the archaeologist had, deftly slipping a hand into the cotton glove before turning the pages. At the outburst from her son she glanced up and then quickly thumbed through the book towards the page with the picture on it.

She gave her husband a significant look, one of the ones that's an entire conversation for people who've been married as long as they have. She continued skipping around the book to different pages, occasionally silently counting the number between pages or the number from the beginning to a certain page.

"326 pages," she finally said. "All consistent. It has every shared page from the verifiable partial copies that were found." She looked up at Moira, then over to her husband, clearly as shaken as Wakiki was at the moment. "George, this could be the original."

Geogre grimaced and rubbed his temples. "Well....well." He looked around at the motley group, his eyes settling on his son. "What do you all want to do? You've been drug into the middle of something and that might be the oldest written record in the world, if it's authentic. We've been searching for it ever since the last time. There's others out there that know about you all. Know a lot more than we ever did, and are damn good at never being caught." He glanced at his wife again, and then his daughter.

"We'll help you however we can," he sighed. "We can try to hide you. We can try to figure out what all this is about the book and that temple and....everything else. Or we can leave you alone. At this point, it's up to all of you. It's your lives."

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Many strange things had happened to Eddie. But nothing startled and scared him as much as what he did next. "I want to know why we have been targeted for these powers," he said, his voice filling with steel. "And I want my sketchbook back."

The transformations that were occurring were internal as well as external. His heart was being changed as much as his body, and he wondered who and what he was becoming.