One spring evening in southern California . . .
"Just a sec' . . .!" a slurred voice called out from behind the door of the family home on Redwood Drive in the Los Brisos neighbourhood of Sweet Valley. The door then was unlocked and opened, revealing a pretty seventeen year-old girl of average height with silver-blonde hair and green eyes. The slight flush on her cheeks indicated she had definitely drunk something that was normally illegal for someone her age to consume outside one's house. "Yes?" she asked before blinking as her eyes took in the handsome features of the man before her before she grinned. "Hey! Regina's bro, right?"
"Yes!" Nicholas Morrow stated, the urgency of the moment making him shake more than he really wanted to, especially given that he had been operating for the last couple of hours on pure adrenaline, fearful for his sister's safety. "Where's my sister?"
A smirk. "She's out past her bedtime?" Molly Hecht coyly asked before she waved him inside. "C'mon in. She's crashed out in my bedroom. Hey, Sergeant O'Riley! Sergeant Henderson! C'mon in, guys! Nothing really illegal happening here!"
"We'll be the judge of that, Miss Hecht," Jim O'Riley stated as he and his partner came into the house, beckoning Nicholas in with them. "Could you take us to Regina?"
"Sure! This way!"
Walking into the quaint home – which wasn't anything like the beautiful middle-class homes he knew about and worlds below his family's own mansion near the domiciles of the Patmans and the Fowlers – Nicholas was struck by the eerie silence that seemed to hang over the living room at this time. Oh, sure, there was loud music playing and there was quite the crowd of people here, but all of them were mostly either asleep or doing things that – while not blatantly sexual – was making the elder son of Sweet Valley's third-richest family blush. "Don't mind my friends," Molly said as she made her way to the stairs leading to the upper floor, the sway in her movements clearly indicative of her current level of intoxication. "They won't hurt you. Up here."
They soon were in a rather nice if cluttered bedroom where a smiling girl Molly's age was lying on the bed, fast asleep. Sitting next to her, holding her hand, was Jan Brown. Standing by the window looking out into the evening sky over the former fish-canning town on the Santa Barbara coast was Tina Adams. Noting the presence of the other girls, O'Riley exchanged a knowing look with Mike Henderson. The three girls in the bedroom with the sleeping Regina Morrow were known victims of a drug dealer now attending Sweet Valley College, Buzz Jackson; all the police departments in Santa Barbara County were working together to snare him once and for all. If he had been here . . .?
"Regina!" Nicholas gasped.
The sleeping girl's dark blue eyes fluttered. "Huh . . .?" she moaned out before she slowly turned to gaze at the hazy image now before her. An image that slowly cleared up. "Nicholas . . .?" she moaned out. "Where am I . . .?"
"You passed out after drinking a beer, Regina," Jan calmly stated before she gave the girl's brother a smile. "Hate to say it, friend, but she's got a real low tolerance for alcohol. Lucky thing we got her up here to sleep it off. Here to take her home?"
Nicholas blinked, and then he nodded. "Guess I got worried for nothing."
"Hey, chill!" Tina said as she gazed at him. "Not your fault that your sis was feeling down in the dumps because that asshole Patman dumped her for Amy Sutton of all people!"
"Believe me, I wish I had a nice big bro' like you looking out for me," Molly added. "All I've got is my little bro'." She waved to the doorway, where her younger brother Tyrone – "Ty" to all his friends – was now standing. "But he does his best."
Ty grinned as Nicholas found himself smirking. Even the two police officers – who had been quick to smell the cigarettes and alcohol in the air – smiled on hearing that. "We heard rumours that Buzz Jackson was going to come here," O'Riley stated.
The three girls perked. On the bed, Regina also blinked as her hazed mind picked up the name. "Buzz?" Tina asked. "Haven't seen him for a couple months. Jan? Moll?"
"Haven't seen him at all, Officer," Jan stated as Molly shook her head.
"Not me!" Ty added.
The police officers hummed. They didn't really believe the girls . . . but there had been no signs of cocaine or any other illicit drugs when they had walked into the house. Atop that, they didn't have a search warrant and there seemed to be no real cause to get one from the local judge. While it WAS illegal to purchase alcohol in California by anyone below age 21, private consumption in a house was not outlawed for young adults . . . and there hadn't been a single kid in sight below Ty's age. A quick look around the living room showed there were people who were holding back, no doubt to be designated drivers. While the hostess of the party and her friends in the bedroom were some of Buzz Jackson's victims, they had acted quite responsibly in getting Regina into bed so she could sleep it off. Well, perhaps sometime in the future . . .
"Well, if you do, call us," O'Riley said. "And make sure that everyone can get home without causing accidents. Mr. Morrow, if you want to help your sister . . .?"
"Um, sure," Nicholas said . . .
A half-hour later . . .
"Fuck! Who the hell brought that rich girl here?"
"Justin did," Molly said. She was alone in the kitchen with Jan and Tina; the party had petered out after Regina's brother and the police had come to rescue her. Ty was off escorting some of his friends back to their houses; he would return in a bit. "He and Regina got close after she realised Patman was two-timing her with Sutton. No doubt, he wanted to be a knight in shining armour and protect me from Buzz's sinful delights." A chuckle. "Much that I appreciate his concern . . . "
"Ditto here," Jan said as she lit a cigarette and took a deep draw of the soothing fumes. "She is a pretty sweet girl, isn't she?" As Tina and Molly gazed on her, the hard-looking tomboy with the dark hair and the cold blue eyes smirked. "Hey! Just because I have to act as Miss Bad Bitch of the Drug Scene doesn't mean I can't sense what sort of girl Regina really is!" A smirk. "What did she become?"
Molly smiled. "Manacle."
The other girls – who had also got their Gifts the same time as Molly did two years before thanks to a wandering man their age from Japan named Moroboshi Ataru – oohed. "Oh! It's Superfuzz!" Tina then gasped. "She's gonna arrest us!"
The other girls laughed. "Well, it's good that she did get a Gift," Jan noted. "I've told you about all the girls I've sensed might have met Ataru before."
"But you don't have proof," Molly noted.
"Not really," Jan affirmed with a nod. "But some things are somewhat obvious."
"The Wakefield twins," Tina noted. "Definitely them."
"Fowler," Molly mused.
"Definitely Sutton and Walker, too," Jan proposed.
"Maybe Pearce," Tina said.
"Probably Egbert," Molly then added.
The others gave her strange looks. "Moll! This is ATARU we're talking about here!" Jan stated. "There's only been TWO guys he's helped over the last ten years! One's in Japan and the other's in England! Egbert lives here in California!"
"He was one of the original Boosters," Tina noted.
The other girls blinked, and then they nodded. Playing the game of Who's got a Gift? was fun for the three girls. Since the man who was the current incarnation of the Trickster of the Great Show of Life was notoriously tight-lipped when it came to revealing who was also in the Book of Pretty Girls – that he had called Molly, Jan and Tina "pretty" when he had first met them two years before (and had MEANT it!) was something that still filled their hearts with a special sort of warmth – knowing who might also be a metahuman possessing powers bestowed on them by the Great Crystal of Yiziba was next to impossible save for when random chance came into play.
None of them had been invited to participate in the Mother of All Fight Scenes a month before that had ended up DESTROYING a whole Niphentaxian colony . . .
. . . and LIBERATING an entire RACE of BIOROIDS from slavery.
From what had been leaked over the private intranet used by the over thousand Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei by the Mistress of Communications, Nexus, it had been wild.
Then again, unlike some of the others Ataru had helped over the years, girls like Molly Hecht, Jan Brown and Tina Adams were known to be "bad babes."
If they had been involved in fighting the Niphentaxians . . .!
"Hey, Molly!"
Molly looked over as Ty came in. "Yeah, Ty?"
"What are you going to do about Buzz?" the younger boy asked.
Molly blinked, and then she sighed. When she had teleported herself to Yiziba with a dying Regina Morrow in her arms to get her to the Cave of the Future, Jan had used her powers to freeze time in place. After Molly got back with the then-Gifted Regina, she put Buzz into the storage room in the basement. Jan and Tina then took the chance to clean up and get rid of the drugs and everything else that might have really made life difficult for their friend when the fuzz and Regina's overprotective brother came charging in. "Sunnydale?" she proposed to her friends.
"The vamps'll eat him alive," Jan noted.
"If they don't get stoned first," Tina mused.
The others blinked, and then they laughed . . .
Manacled Dominatrix
A side-story to The Saga of Coyote and the Tempest
by Fred Herriot
Based on Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal; and Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko
Including characters and situations based on Mahō Sensei Negima, created by Akamatsu Ken; Azumanga Daiō, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; the Harry Potter series, created by Joanna K. Rowling; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Wheaton
WRITER'S INTRODUCTION: This story is a side story to The Saga of Coyote and the Tempest, explaining what happened when Regina Morrow was Gifted with the abilities of the Queen of Traps, Manacle, thanks to the help of Molly Hecht (who is the current incarnation of the Mistress of Pain and Pleasure, the Dominatrix). In Sweet Valley High chronology, this story is set near the end of novel #40, On the Edge. In Urusei Yatsura terms, this story is set three months after the first movie, Only You, and three months before the fifth movie, The Final Chapter. In Harry Potter reality, this is set during the latter part of the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . . . though events in that universe happened differently than what Mrs. Rowling wrote. In Buffy reality, it's the first season of the television series; I'm not familiar with the series as I've only seen one episode, so I won't say more. For those who didn't have family names or given names introduced in SVH, the names given here are my invention.
It is advised to read the main story before reading this story to make sure that people can understand the background situation that lead to the events depicted here. I will do my best to describe things as best as possible to avoid any questions, but I don't want to repeat word-for-word what I wrote in The Saga of Coyote and the Tempest.
All writer's notes are contained at the end of each part. There will also be entries of The Book of Pretty Girls in this story as well after the writer's notes.
Sweet Valley High School, the next morning . . .
"So Regina passed out after drinking one beer?"
Nicholas nodded, flustering in embarrassment. "Yeah. Molly had her moved into her bedroom to sleep it off; she and her friends Jan and Tina were watching over her when we got there. The officers helped me get her home and decided to write off the whole thing about driving without a license and speeding since I was so worried about her."
Hearing that, Elizabeth Wakefield could only smile as she relaxed herself at her work desk in the offices of the school newspaper, The Oracle. "Well, that's a good thing. What about Justin Belson? He was dating Molly. Did they get back together?"
A shake of the head. "No. But I don't want Regina hanging around him anymore," he stated. As Elizabeth gave him a knowing look, he blushed. "I mean, I'm glad she's getting over what happened between her and Patman, but still . . . "
"I think she wanted to help Justin get over his own problems, Nicholas," Elizabeth stated. "It helped her try to get past what happened between her and Bruce."
"Yeah, true."
"So where is she now?"
"She's sick," he answered. "We took her to the hospital first thing when she started throwing up after waking up this morning, but when the doctor looked her over, he couldn't find anything bad inside her. Probably a reaction to the beer she had."
She nodded in turn. "Well, maybe it'll teach her to be more careful in the future."
A laugh. "True . . . "
A knock echoed at the door. "Hey!" a voice called out.
Nicholas and Elizabeth looked over, and then both smiled on seeing the woman standing at the doorway. "Hey, Molly!" the former called out as Molly Hecht walked into the office. "Thanks for what you did last night with Regina."
"Hey! No problem at all," Molly stated. She was Elizabeth's height, but there was a dynamic vitality to her that seemed to burn from every point on her skin. "She was feeling a little low about what that two-timing womaniser Patman was doing with that slut Sutton and she drifted together with Justin over the last bit." As Elizabeth frowned on hearing such vulgar language from the other girl – even if the elder Wakefield twin and Amy Sutton had drifted apart since the latter had moved with her family to Connecticut five years before, Elizabeth did still think of Amy as a friend – Molly added, "I didn't like that; we were dating for some time before his family's problems got in the way." And I met Ataru and got my Gift, she mentally added. "But I'm not one to get in the way of a friendship." She tapped Nicholas with her fist, which made him yelp as he moved to rub his sore arm. "So stop acting like an overprotective jerk, okay? Your sister's way too sheltered, you know! You're lucky that Buzz wasn't there last night with all his stuff! If he was . . .!"
Nicholas winced. "Yeah! Yeah! I get it! I get it!"
Elizabeth giggled as her would-be boyfriend – Nicholas Morrow had tried to move in on the elder Wakefield twin when the Morrow family had moved into the Valley a few months before – began to chat away with her sister's rescuer. Why on Earth didn't I notice Molly before? she then wondered to herself. Even if she hails from the same type of rough crowds Betsy and Tricia normally deal with, she seems pretty okay . . .!
A knock at the door. "Excuse me?"
Everyone turned . . . and then Elizabeth smiled. "C'mon in!" she said as a girl who looked like an older, brown-haired Amy Sutton walked into the room. "Molly, this is Mimi Sutton. She's a junior at Sweet Valley College; she wants to be a social worker."
"I remember her! Hey, Mims!" Molly said as she took the other woman's hand in her own. "Here to apologise on your cousin's behalf for breaking Regina's heart?"
Mimi chuckled. "There are days I do wonder about Amy," she noted before nodding to the others in the room. "Anyhow, I came here to pass on the word about an old 'friend' of yours: Buzz Jackson. They found him dead in Sunnydale just before breakfast."
Molly blinked as Elizabeth winced. "So the vamps got to him, huh?" the former mused nonchalantly. "Hope they didn't get stoned on his blood when they drank it all."
Nicholas gaped. "Vampires?"
"Well, what else would you call 'em?" she mused. "All the people dyin' in that town for the last few years, all the blood drained out of 'em . . .!" A shake of the head. "I know it hasn't hit CNN, but I hear stuff all the time. What else could it be?"
He blinked, and then nodded. "Well – even if he did die – he won't bothering you or Jan or Tina anymore," Mimi then said as she smiled. "You can rest easy now."
"I'll pass it on," Molly noted . . .
Some minutes later . . .
"You appear to be someone who has the weight of the world on her mind!"
Elizabeth blinked before she gazed up at the man who had said that, and then she smirked. "I must have drifted off," she admitted as Winston Egbert sat down across from her. "Glad I have only three classes today. I'm a little distracted."
"Because of Regina," the resident clown of Class 11-B mused.
"You've heard?"
"Very little happens in this town without my finding out about it within an hour or so, Liz," Winston stated as his dark brown eyes twinkled with amusement. Save for the glasses, the curly hair and his being Caucasian in lieu of Oriental, Winston could easily be Moroboshi Ataru's twin brother. Both had the same sort of casual attitude towards the outside world and both loved to make others laugh when they could. Of course, Ataru had been literally Gifted with that power when he was six, so he had grown up with the ability and had used it quite well over the following ten years. Winston's ability had been natural from the start; his Gift – he was the Master of Technological Magic, Lightmage – just gave him the power to make whatever jokes or pranks he played on others all the more spectacular. "Regina's Gifted."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then . . .
"Molly?" Elizabeth gasped.
"I don't know exactly what she is, but I've an idea," Winston admitted; Elizabeth didn't have to confirm that he had magically sealed the office and put a notice-me-not charm on the door to ensure they enjoyed some privacy. "Ditto with either Tina Adams or Jan Brown. Possibly both of them, but I can't be sure." He sighed. "My ward alarms picked up someone teleporting from here to Yiziba about ten o'clock last night using one of your predecessor's PAAs." The Personal Administrative Assistants were meson-augmented mini-computers the size of an iPhone which – amongst other things – could teleport someone the distance between Earth and Yiziba in seconds. "Just as Nick Morrow and two police officers got to the Hecht home. From where the teleport happened and to where the return teleport came." As she nodded – Elizabeth knew there were many spare PAAs around for people to use to make the three hundred light-year journey from Earth to Yiziba and back again without her being directly alerted to it – he added, "There was also a time-stop bubble there. Made a side-time deviation of about twenty minutes. Enough time to clean up the mess and make sure no one raised a stink when O'Riley and Henderson went in there with Nick to get Regina out."
She nodded. Winston had got his Gift at the same time as the Wakefield twins and a whole slew of others; all of them formed the "Boosters of Sweet Valley" – the nickname for the group of metahumans that called the former fish-canning town northwest of Los Angeles on the Santa Barbara coast their home had been taken from the cheerleading squad of Sweet Valley Elementary School – back when they were in Grade 6. While he was not in the main list of the Book of Pretty Girls – as the title denoted, only GIRLS were in Ataru's special book though he had made two exceptions with two badly abused boys over the years – the Master of Techno-Magic was in the Annex list, indexed under Jessica's entry (which annoyed the hell out of Elizabeth's twin sister every time she was made to think about it). "So what do you think Molly and her friends are?"
"Well, let's look at the evidence," he proposed. "Late last night, someone flies from the Valley to Hellmouth Central and dumps a body there. This morning, Amy's cousin comes in with the news that Buzz Jackson's now sans any blood in his corpus. A girl who was one of his prior customers then openly speaks about vampires in this very office. Whoever did the flying last night had the classic FISS-type powers, Liz."
"And is clearly a heel-type by the fact that Molly did know about the vampires . . . and possibly did drop the late and unlamented Mister Jackson there to become a midnight snack for one of the resident un-dead population in Sunnydale," she finished, nodding in understanding. "There are some who could fit what Molly could have become. Did you track Ataru's movements in the Valley anytime after he came by to help us all get our Gifts?"
A shake of the head. "Me? Track Coyote? Get serious, Liz!"
Both of them laughed; Ataru could be as stealthy as any of his ninja ancestors if the mood ever struck him. A pity the idiots in Tomobiki hadn't come to realise what was now living in their midst. "So who could she be . . .?" she then trilled. "Certainly not the Violator. That one's more a psionic than a FISS-type. An empathic vampire deep down. While feeding a drug dealer to REAL vampires is rather ironic . . . "
"I was thinking more of the lines of the Dominatrix."
Elizabeth blinked. "Possibility . . . " she then breathed out. "But what about Regina?"
"Can't tell right now," Winston stated. "But I do have wards monitoring her place. The instant she's up and showing something odd, I'll know about it."
"Tell me right away."
He nodded . . .
Lunchtime . . .
"Hey, Molly!"
Molly perked on hearing that voice, and then she looked over. "Justin!"
Justin Belson smiled as he came up to slide into the chair next to her. Molly had been relaxing with Jan and Tina when the former's ex-boyfriend had appeared. "Hey, sorry about last night," he then apologised. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Chill, man," Jan said as she made a dismissive wave. "We know the score. Heard about Buzz?" As he perked, she smiled. "He became vamp food in the 'Dale."
Justin gaped. As Molly had told Mimi earlier in the day, all the weird things that had rocked nearby Sunnydale – located west of Sweet Valley near the southern perimeter of Vandenburg Air Force Base off Cojo Bay – hadn't been important enough to make CNN Headline News . . . but word had got out on the streets that said town was NOT a safe place to be, especially at nights. "Damn!" he breathed out. "I mean . . .!"
"Yeah, he didn't deserve to get all his blood drained out . . . but people didn't deserve to get hooked on the shit he was selling," Tina noted.
"Yeah, you got that right," Molly noted. "Glad we got off that stuff."
Justin blinked. "But he was there at the party! I remember seeing him!" he stated.
"Yeah, he was there," Molly stated nonchalantly. "Didn't stick around long."
"True. Probably felt he could make a score in the 'Dale," Tina mused.
"Someone sure made a score on him," Jan then lamented.
The three girls mirthlessly chuckled before turning back to their lunches. Watching them, Justin blinked as he tried to recall what had happened the previous night. Yes, he had gone there with Regina Morrow to make sure Molly – whom he still saw as a friend even if they weren't dating anymore – would be safe from the real bad crowd that she had been associating with since she entered junior high school in the wake of her parents' separating and her father's effectively remaining in San Francisco while her mother remained in the Valley. And yeah, it had been pretty bad; by the time Justin and Regina had come in, the booze was flowing freely.
Shortly after that, Buzz arrived . . . and then . . . then . . .!
What HAD happened?
Watching the lone man with them now, Molly and her friends tried not to smile on seeing the lost look on Justin's face. Realising that he was trying to recall events from the previous night at the Hecht home, the girls exchanged brief glances before turning to their meals to finish up before they would head off to afternoon classes.
It was necessary, of course. After Ataru had helped the three girls get their Gifts, they had banded together to try to help others like them get away from the many sinful delights people like Buzz Jackson always was ready to sell to the unsuspecting. To ensure people didn't come to not trust three girls who had got clean in the literal blink of an eye, Molly, Jan and Tina often used special meson-augmented synthetic concoctions created by one of the previous Academicians to simulate being either drunk or stoned when it was required. With that, they could still hang out with people they liked and cared for . . . and could be there to help someone when said someone needed that sort of help.
Just like what had happened to Regina Morrow the previous night.
As soon as the girl had taken in her second line of cocaine and started to turn VERY grey as she began to hyperventilate and complain of chest pains, Jan had used her powers as Pentagram – she was one of the minor mages of the Shadow Realm; unlike others, Jan didn't have a cool nickname – to literally freeze everyone in place. Tina – as Ruby Slippers, another Shadow Realm mage who could use her powers to lock in on people's deepest desires – then probed into Regina's soul to keep her alive and well. Molly raced into her bedroom to get out one of the PAAs she had found shortly after she had become the Dominatrix, then came back, grabbed Regina, and teleported off Earth to get the suffering girl to the Cave of the Future to save her life.
Minutes later – in the time-stop bubble Jan had created; in "real" time, it had only been seconds – Molly came back with an alive and sleeping Regina in her arms, still in civilian clothing but wearing the special wrist-bracelet Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei often wore to ensure they could switch into battle-suits when required. After putting Regina into bed, the three girls then quickly got rid of the drugs Buzz had brought to the party. Molly stashed Buzz himself in the basement storage room while Jan and Tina made everyone else forget what had happened when Regina had taken her first line of cocaine . . . and then the time-stop bubble was collapsed and everything went back to normal.
Ten seconds later, the police were knocking at the front door.
And while Molly was feeling a twinge of concern over what had happened when she carried Regina to Yiziba – despite the synthetic nature of the drinks and drugs she had taken to make herself "normal" to the others, they had intoxicated her since everything was ruby meson-based and keyed to her own DNA, thus allowing the "drinks" and "drugs" she ingested to actually affect her as if she was still a norm – it was a good thing. After all, if Ataru himself had been involved, he would have got Regina to Yiziba to help her recover from what had happened – Jan herself was planning to magically examine a sample of Regina's DNA to find out what exactly had caused such an ugly reaction in her to just TWO lines of cocaine! – and most likely offered to help her get a Gift himself.
What was seriously wrong with that?
The Morrow home, after school . . .
Regina's eyes snapped open.
"«Where am I . . .?»"
She then stopped as her mind caught up with her mouth.
What had she just said?
Wait! She wondered where she was . . .
But the words spoken had not been in English!
Then . . .?
Taking a moment to look around the familiar contours of her bedroom, she then blinked as she moved to sit up, looking down at herself. Noting she was in her nightgown – When had she got dressed in THIS flimsy thing? – she then moved to stretch herself . . . and then she stopped on noting the bracelet wrapped around her left wrist.
A storage bracelet for her battle-suit?
She then blinked as confusion overwhelmed her for a moment.
"What battle-suit?"
A knock then echoed from the door. "Miss Regina?" a voice called out.
Regina looked over . . . and then her hand came up, the fingers twisting . . .
. . . as the door handle was pushed down to unlatch the door, allowing it to open . . .
"Miss Regina . . .?"
Gasping on seeing that the door had opened – and that NO PHYSICAL HAND had moved to open said door! – Regina then blinked comically as one of the servants moved to look in, surprise etched on her face . . . which then turned to confusion on noting that the young mistress of the household was in her bed. Which was TEN FEET AWAY from the DOOR!
"Miss Regina . . .!"
"Excuse me!"
The maid perked on hearing that . . .
. . . and then seemed to look lost for a moment before she walked away from the door, allowing a lanky man in a black uniform with weird glyphs over it to peek inside.
On seeing him, Regina gaped. "Winston . . .?"
The man born Winston Egbert smiled. "Welcome back, Lady Manacle."
She blinked several times . . .
Minutes later . . .
"I'm a MUTANT?"
Hearing that classic comic book term, both Elizabeth – who was dressed in the up-to-date uniform of the Great Sage of the Circle of Thought, the Academician – and Winston winced . . . before both exchanged a look and laughed. "Sorry about that, Regina," the former then said. "But that term is – to borrow Jessica's word for it . . . "
"Way too retro for us," the latter finished for his friend. "For someone like one of the X-Men or a Slayer, the term we use is 'naturally-gifted meta.' People like Spider-man or any of the Fantastic Four are 'fate-gifted metas.' And folks like us . . . "
"Are just Gifted. With a capital 'G.'"
Regina – who had been shown how to activate her storage bracelet to drape herself in the dark grey old-style jumpsuit with the black handcuff insignia of the Queen of Traps, Manacle – blinked before she scowled for a second, and then she nodded. "Yeah . . . but aren't we just Yizibajohei?" she asked. "We're all Terrans . . . "
"Thank the man who helped us get our Gifts: Tuyuki," Elizabeth stated. "Or 'Coyote' as he calls himself now. His real name is Moroboshi Ataru; he's the fellow from Japan who's made the news over the last three months about that close encounter of the third kind with the Urusians nine months ago." As Regina nodded – the dropping of the news blackout around the Tōkyō suburb of Tomobiki three months before had caused a world-wide furor, especially given what had happened in the "world oil-theft" incident right after Moroboshi Ataru had defeated Redet Lum and wound up engaged to marry her – the elder Wakefield twin added, "When he got his Gift thanks to one of the Nameless, Mistress Ayone Katabarbe, Ataru decided he would 'share the wealth' with every pretty girl he could find. In doing so, he would make sure that if there ever WAS an alien invasion of Earth, we could respond with the Mother of All Fight Scenes."
The daughter of Kurt and Skye Morrow nodded in understanding. She could now recall what those strange words and terms Elizabeth had said actually meant. "I dreamt of the Dawn of Power when I slept; that's why I was sick this morning," she then admitted. "I was a peace officer in one of the central continent nations back then. We weren't like the dictatorships and monarchies on the other continents where your first-selves arose." She gave her visitors knowing looks. As they nodded in understanding, she said, "Before all the local governments disintegrated and the Show was started in earnest, I was the only thing keeping those who had survived the upheavals and all the fighting – they became the first generation of the Nameless in my homeland – alive and well."
"I remember that," Elizabeth stated. "In fact, I believe my first-self wanted to invite your first-self into the Circle of Thought."
Regina's cheeks reddened. "You're kidding me . . . "
She then gasped as a haunting aria echoed through the air. As Regina looked around for the source of that noise, Elizabeth moaned. "Winston!"
"Sorry," he said with a knowing smirk. "But when you guys start talking about ancient history, I always think about that particular music from Star Trek."
The girls gaped at him, and then they laughed. As the music finally faded, Regina then sighed. "Molly did this to me, didn't she?" she then asked.
"We think so," Elizabeth stated. "We didn't know she was Gifted herself."
"What is she?"
"We don't know, but we think she's the Dominatrix," Winston answered. "Unlike our past-selves back on Yiziba, we tend to stay separate from each other. We don't know who everyone is. Ataru won't tell us who other people are without their permission; he's always respected people's privacies over that matter. Most of us in the Valley who are Gifted belong to an unofficial 'team' we call the 'Boosters;' that was the nickname of our elementary school cheerleading team when we met Ataru."
"And you were the only guy in the group," Elizabeth noted. "Even if others like Todd and Bill got their Gifts that day as well."
A laugh. "Yeah, that's true." He then sighed. "What happened last night, Regina? Was Buzz Jackson there? Did you actually try out some of his stuff?"
Regina blinked, and then she nodded. "Yeah. I mean . . . " A shake of the head. "It was so different from what I'm used to. The smoking, the drinking, the . . . " A grimace. "Drugs." As the others nodded, she then smirked. "I wanted to get out of there. But I wanted to help Justin get Molly out of that mess. Things happened and I was urged to give some cocaine a try." A weak smile. "I didn't want to look like a total coward in front of them, so . . . " A smirk. "I inhaled."
The others laughed. "Well, at that moment, I started to have some really bad chest pains," Regina added. "And – I think this is what happened – when Molly and her friends realised what was going on, Jan . . . " A sigh. "She did something. And everyone just froze in place. Except Jan, Molly and Tina. I felt . . . something reach into me to ease the pain. Molly ran up to her bedroom and came back down with something in her hand." Her eyes then narrowed. "Her clothes had changed . . . "
"What?" Elizabeth urged.
"Black vest, skin-tight leather pants and white boots."
"The Dominatrix," Winston confirmed.
Regina nodded; she did recall such a person on Yiziba. A classic "heel" that had all the standard FISS powers . . . but such powers could increase exponentially if s/he was hurt in any way, shape or form to make him/her as strong as the mightiest of all the physical powerhouses that lived on that world. And because of a burning NEED to feel that rush, the Dominatrix (or the "Dominator" if the one so Gifted was a man) would provoke fight scenes with anyone that crossed his/her path. That such a being lived in such a quiet town as Sweet Valley these days boggled her mind; if Molly Hecht was strongly provoked, she could unleash devastation which would make the strategic bombing of Germany and Japan by the Allies in World War Two COMBINED look like a garden tea party. Why the hell haven't we heard of people Gifted from Yiziba going crazy before now? she wondered before taking a deep breath. "She saved my life."
"Most likely," Elizabeth stated. "I noted there was a genetic defect in your DNA that was provoked by the drugs your mother took that made you deaf." As Regina gaped at her, the elder Wakefield twin blushed. "I'm sorry, Regina, but even if we don't do flashy things like you'd read in comic books, we do our best to protect people in town. Part of what I do is to make sure that if there are serious medical emergencies . . . "
"You need to know how to heal them," Regina finished, and then she gazed knowingly at Winston. "You put up some magical wards around my house to keep an eye on me."
"I did," he admitted. "And I apologise for that. But I take the same view as Liz does when it comes to protecting this town. You'll probably sense a magical ward around Sunnydale to the west of here. That was my doing; the place is a Hellmouth – as the magicals call it – and loads of vampires live there. My wards keeps them there to ensure they don't get out and start turning people elsewhere."
Their hostess nodded; as Manacle, Regina was a psychokinetic who could use her mind to literally restrain anyone she encountered. She would be sensitive to odd shifts of natural psionic energy fields. Magic provoked such shifts, so Winston's warning was courteous. "So can I be part of this Boosters team of yours?" she then asked before pointing to Elizabeth's clothes. "And can I switch my uniform to something like that?"
Both of her guests laughed . . .
Across Sweet Valley . . .
As people – mostly women – relaxed in their bedrooms or living rooms enjoying dinner or doing their homework, cell phones began beeping with the signal that a text message had come in. While their parents and siblings – for those who had them – ignored such sounds as texting was quite the "in" thing these days, said cell phones were pulled out of pockets or pouches to be opened so the message could be read:
BOOSTER MEETING TONIGHT AT ACADEMICIAN'S HIDEOUT 8:00 PDT
Those who received those messages – even a certain handsome basketball star who was now in Vermont and a certain young witch at a hidden magical school in Scotland – quickly went back to work as they began imagining ways to excuse themselves from their current situations so they could make their way to the Wakefield home . . .
Somewhere in Sunnydale, nightfall . . .
"Awaken, William."
A groan. "That's NOT my name!"
A toothy smirk answered. "That was the name you were given when you were born as a mortal, William Jackson. But if you wish, we can call you 'Buzz.' Awaken."
A pair of eyes slowly opened . . .
Underneath the back yard of the Wakefield home . . .
"Regina Morrow? Gifted? NO WAY!"
"Way," Elizabeth said as she grinned at Caroline Pearce. "And we just found out about one – possibly three – more people who might also be in the Book of Pretty Girls. One of them helped Regina get her Gift."
The red-haired gossip – who actually got the powers of the Unstoppable Gossip when she was Gifted years ago; Caroline had chosen the battle-name Pettegola for herself in lieu of using "Chatterbox" as her past-selves have done – gaped. "Really? Who?"
"What? You don't know?" Jessica Wakefield then demanded as she came up to join her sister and Caroline, accompanied by her best friends Lila Fowler, Cara Walker and Amy Sutton. "That's shocking coming from you, Carol! Are you sick?"
"No, I'm not," Caroline said as she gazed on the current incarnation of the Charging Belle of the Heavens with an amused twinkle in her eyes. "But like it or not, the magical energies pouring out of whatever-that-is under Sunnydale High School does affect my powers, so I don't probe people as much as I'd normally like to." Which was anytime, the others knew. "Honestly! Why can't we just go there and destroy it once and for all?"
"It's being handled by a local magical group," Elizabeth assured.
"What? American Aurors?"
"Ginny!" Elizabeth then gushed as she turned to accept Ginny Weasley's embrace. The only non-American in the Boosters of Sweet Valley, the only daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley of the magical side of Ottery Saint Catchpole in England's County Devon was currently a fifth-year student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was also the Mistress of the Eternal Flames of Chaos, Soulfire. She had received her Gift over four years before during the Chamber of Secrets incident at Hogwarts thanks to a quick-thinking Elizabeth Wakefield – who had been dragged by Jessica to Scotland to help the Cosmic Mage Guild deal with a certain thousand year-old basilisk after Hermione Granger got petrified – and an old PAA that delivered a dying Ginny to the Cave of the Future. In the wake of that, Ginny had sworn a magical Life-Debt to Elizabeth and vowed to become Mrs. Ginny Wakefield when it became practicable. That Elizabeth was also in a relationship with Todd Wilkins – who was the Sentinel; he got his Gift at the same time as the other Boosters a year previous – didn't matter to Ginny. Nor did it matter to the Weasley family save for Ginny's next-oldest brother Ronald (who hated the idea of his sister being engaged to marry a "muggle" of all things) and their mother Molly (who wanted Ginny to become Mrs. Harry Potter).
"Hey, Gin-gin!" Jessica said as Lila, Cara and Caroline all smiled. "How're things at Hoggy-warts? The idiots in the Ministry of Morons still acting like idiots?"
Ginny smiled; much that she did find Jessica to be a little selfish and not as book-smart as Elizabeth, she did love her future sister-in-law. "Unfortunately, especially after most of Tom's friends got caught and were sent to Azkaban by Harry and the others at the end of last year, the Ministry is still undergoing a big shake-up. People are still scared of the idea of 'You Know Who' coming out of the shadows to start up a Blood War again. Bellatrix Lestrange is still on the run . . . "
"What about finding Master Riddle's other soul-anchors?" Elizabeth asked.
A sigh. "Professor Dumbledore found one. Nearly got cursed to death by it, but Hermione got to him in time and healed him. Turns out that it was one of the Deathly Hallows from The Tales of Beedle the Bard: The Resurrection Stone." Ginny then smiled. "He sent it right away to Margo Black to have her destroy it."
The others nodded, though there was a slight chill that fell down their backs at Ginny's mentioning the current incarnation of the Herald of the Final Darkness and the most feared heel of all Yiziba. Given that the current incarnation of that line was a woman who could be Elizabeth Wakefield's own twin sister – save for black hair, grey eyes and no dimple on her cheek – the woman born Margo Black was an object of great fascination to all of the Boosters. Even if they would all wish that Margo NEVER came to Sweet Valley for any reason. "So the power of the Hallows has been destroyed," Elizabeth then stated. "There can never be a Master of Death as many have prophesised."
"Never again. If the professor remains unbeaten before he dies, the Elder Wand loses its power once and for all," Ginny stated. "And Harry's cloak . . . "
"Is essentially harmless since the younger Peverell brother did treat the spirit of Death with great respect and kindness when he finally passed from this life."
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Elizabeth beamed. "Todd!" she called out as the warm and welcoming arms of Todd Wilkins wrapped around her body. "Sorry to get you out of bed."
"Oh, I don't mind," the current incarnation of the Sentinel stated as they shared a deep kiss. "It's only eleven o'clock in Vermont, so I don't have to hit the hay for a bit. What's the meeting about, anyway? Something happen?"
"I'll explain in a moment," Elizabeth said as she took a quick look around before nodding. Everyone was here. "Can I have everyone's attention, please?" she then called out. "Could you all take your seats? Let's get started!"
People nodded as they made their way to the table in the meeting room which was right beside the Wakefield family's storage room in the main house, and then they sat down. Everyone was in civilian clothing as – for the most part – they had just walked to the secret entrance to the Academician's base off a side street in a magically-hidden bush to get to this location unseen. Todd and Ginny, of course, had teleported from Vermont and Scotland respectively via Elizabeth's mobile laboratory, the starship Discovery now over the North Pole and hidden from the sensors of alien ships that often made their way to Earth thanks to the planet's powerful natural magnetic fields.
Taking her place at the head of the table, Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Thank you for coming so promptly to this meeting," she then said. "I won't be long, but I do have an announcement I would prefer to give face-to-face instead of allowing Chisame to spread it out over the Internet." As the others nodded, she then smiled. "We have a new potential member of the Boosters joining us today. Regina?"
People looked . . . and then they applauded as Regina Morrow stepped in from a side room, now dressed in the updated Manacle battle-suit. "Thanks!" she said as she waved to the others, and then accepted hugs, kisses and handshakes from some people before she took her place to Elizabeth's left; Jessica always sat to her twin's right at these meetings. With a flick of her finger over her bracelet, Regina then allowed her clothes to morph back to normal. "So what do we do in these meetings, Liz?"
"Well, most of the times, we speak about events that may interest or involve us in a more-than-normal way," Elizabeth explained. "As you now know, we do our best to keep ourselves under any sort of widespread public notice. The authorities in Washington are aware that there are those like us all over the planet; Doctor Death often serves as a silent assassin for the President. She was involved in the death of Usāmah bin Lādin last year, though it was one of the SEALs in the Naval Special Warfare Development Group that actually pulled the trigger on him in Operation: Neptune Spear." As Regina nodded – like many Americans, she had cheered when the news of the leader of al-Qā'idah being "caught and compromised to a permanent end" had broke out – the current incarnation of the Great Sage of the Circle of Thought then added, "Also, when there is news of new people being Gifted like you, we all want to know about it."
"And the reason why it happened," Winston added from his place.
"What happened?" Todd then asked. "Was Ataru involved?"
"No, Ataru is too busy trying to wean Lum from being too clingy with him," Jessica said with a mixed look of annoyance and curiosity; this was something she always did whenever one spoke of Moroboshi Ataru and his would-be "wife" from the planet Uru at the same time. "After all, Infinity collapsed the roof of a cathedral on the heads of all those idiots that wanted to see Ataru married off to the girl, and then helped him get back to Yiziba to get his memories back. He disappeared from the Oni's radar for two whole months. That shook them up real bad even if Ataru got Soul Searcher to make sure people don't ask any stupid questions after he went back."
"How soon can Ataru hope to reveal what he is to Lum, Jess?" Lila asked.
A shake of the head. "Not yet. The Urusians are now getting back into patrolling their normal zones of interest. With the breakdown of the Niphentaxian Navy thanks to what we did four weeks ago, the chances are good that Ataru might be able to get rid of that bomb in the Tomobiki Ginza sometime soon. He'll move when he feels it's right."
"And make it really funny at the same time," Cara added.
Laughter from around the table; as Coyote WAS a trickster at heart, he would always want to do things to allow the maximum impact of mirth and amusement to him and those he wished to help . . . and the maximum level of pain and humiliation for those whom he wanted to hurt. "Now, the other reason I called you here tonight," Elizabeth said after people relaxed. "Does anyone know who might be the Dominatrix in this incarnation?"
"Haven't heard of one," Bill Chase stated as he squeezed the hand of his girlfriend, DeeDee Gordon. Others in the room shook their heads. "You think she's in the Valley, Liz?"
"She's most likely Molly Hecht, Bill," Elizabeth stated. "When she was taken from the Hecht home last night to the Cave to be Gifted, Regina remembered the uniform."
People blinked . . . and then eyes went wide. "Liz, what are you saying?" Lynne Henry then demanded from beside Dana Larson. "You mean to say that Regina . . .?"
"She was forced into getting a Gift," Elizabeth announced.
Jaws dropped all around the room . . .
To be continued . . .
WRITER'S NOTES:
1) The opening scene of this story occurs around chapter 11 of On The Edge.
2) Sweet Valley's location has never been directly pointed out in any of the novels; the only major hint as to its actual location in California is that it is two hours from Los Angeles and it has to be somewhere close to the seashore. I place it on U.S. Highway 101 about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Santa Barbara, where the highway turns north away from the Pacific Coast into the Santa Ynez Mountains.
3) When I was collecting the Sweet Valley High novels back in the 1980s, I was always attracted to the loner characters such as Molly Hecht. As people who had critiqued what happened in the series on various blog sites have often commented, I felt it grossly unfair that Molly was singled out for what had happened to Regina in On The Edge as was shown in book #41, Outcast. This story is my way of redressing that situation.
4) Molly is described as a very short girl in comparison to the others when she is first introduced in On The Edge. Given her Gifting, I decided boosting her height so that she could easily look Regina in the eye seemed the right thing to do.
5) In the universe of these stories, Tricia Martin did not die in book #15, Promises. She is also another of the girls from Sweet Valley who got a Gift thanks to Moroboshi Ataru; she is Tzaraath, the Mistress of Plagues (she can create disease viruses and anti-bodies in her blood and spread them by touch). Her older sister Betsy Martin, introduced in Promises, is Cimasa, the Sculptor of the Atom (she has the ability to literally transform matter with her mind in the ultimate form of psychokinesis). Both are not seen as members of the Boosters but are friendly to them.
6) In the universe of these stories, Elizabeth and her friends are in Grade 11, which makes them peers of Moroboshi Ataru and his classmates at Tomobiki High School in Japan. Right now, Elizabeth and her peers are studying for their SAT examinations.
7) The PAA (Personal Administrative Assistants) are the Yizibajohei take-off of the Mother Box concept used by Jack Kirby in his New Gods comic book series.
8) The FISS (which normally stands for "Flight, Invulnerability, Speed, Strength") concept was first mentioned to me by a reader of my Anime Add-venture storyline The Doctor Is In (which is the direct inspiration of The Saga of Coyote and the Tempest, thus later this story). It ultimately stems from the comic book series PS238, which was first created by Aaron Williams in 2002. In Yizibajohei terms, it means "Flight, Invulnerability, Super-speed and Super-strength." People like this are normally around the same power-level as Wonder Woman and Superman are often depicted these days.
9) For Star Trek fans, the aria that Winston plays in Regina's bedroom is the haunting music that normally accompanies a scene where someone is recalling something that happened a long time ago. One such example was the scene in the original series third-season episode "That Which Survives" when a computer recording of Losira (played by Lee Meriwether) explaining what happened to the Kalandan outpost on the clearly artificial Moon-sized planet the Enterprise discovered in that story.
10) As with Sweet Valley, Sunnydale's location was never clearly fixed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but given that it was said that the Pacific Ocean was to both the south and west of the town, locating it near Cojo Bay at the west end of the Santa Barbara Channel south of Vandenburg Air Force Base seemed quite logical.
11) The event where Elizabeth Wakefield effectively saved Ginny Weasley's life was depicted originally in a flashback scene in the Anime Add-venture, episode #254026, "The First Rule of Yiziba . . . NEVER Piss Off The Academician!" I will probably reproduce it here with modifications.
12) The phrase "caught and compromised to a permanent end" when it came to what happened to Usāmah bin Lādin was made by World Wrestling Entertainment superstar John Cena at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view held on 1 May 2011 after he had defeated the Miz and John Morrison for the WWE Championship. I've always liked that phrase.
The Book of Pretty Girls, Entry 854:
The DOMINATRIX
The Mistress of Pain and Pleasure
Generation: 32nd
Age at Gifting: 15 years, 3 months
Real Name: Margaret Elaine "Molly" HECHT
Relatives: Cyrus Porter HECHT (father), Corrine Patricia HECHT (née DAMOND) (mother), Tyrone Carl "Ty" HECHT (younger brother)
Affiliation: Self, Coyote (see Entry 0), Pentagram (see Entry 855), Ruby Slippers (see Entry 856)
Base of Operations: Town and Municipality of Sweet Valley, Santa Barbara County, State of California, United States of America
Alignment: Neutral/Anti-face
Identity: Molly is known to the public authorities and her friends in Sweet Valley; her being Yizibajohei is unknown to anyone outside her closest friends
Race/Culture of Birth: Terran/American
Place of Birth: City and County of San Francisco, State of California, United States of America
Gender: Female
Height: 168 cm (5' 6")
Weight: 47.5 kg (105 lb)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Silver-blonde
Gifts:
Metahuman Strength, Toughness and Physical Invulnerability: The Dominatrix is one of the top FISS-type metas of Yiziba. In Earth gravity when she is not aroused or in pain, she can dead-lift five thousand tonnes with one arm without any risk to the integrity of her body. Because of such power, she can resist anything up to the direct on-skin impact of either thermonuclear or anti-matter weapons up to the explosive power of 2.1 exajoules of energy (equivalent to five hundred megatonnes of TNT exploding all at once). She has the ability to survive in all forms of atmosphere (including airless space) for hours without the need to replenish her body with oxygen. As an extension of same, she cannot be poisoned by any normal means and can ingest most forms of solids or liquids save for anything based on Grade Three mesonium ("ebony meson"). Under normal circumstances, the Dominatrix is like other FISS-type metas; she normally has no defence against magical or psionic attacks beyond sheer willpower alone. However, if she is aroused or in pain and her strength boosts, her ability to throw off attacks like magical possession (the Imperius Curse) increases exponentially.
Flight: The Dominatrix has the ability to fly at hypersonic speeds in atmosphere, just above sonic speeds while in a liquid medium like water and a quarter of the speed of light in space. She has no ability to warp herself between solar systems without aide.
Adrenaline Power Boost: Like several other FISS-types on Yiziba, the Dominatrix has the ability to give her physical powers a massive boost of energy in times of great emotional stress. Such stress – which is normally induced by a lot of pain – allows her body to produce a massive amount of adrenaline which gives her a sort of "steroid rage" that could make her the equal of Mustang (see Entry 449) or Wildflower (see Entry 1049). Because such a rage can be quite addictive, the Dominatrix is often driven to keep the fight scene going so she doesn't lose that addictive high.
Enhanced Physical Senses: The Dominatrix's physical senses are quite acute as an extension of her physical abilities. She can see with accuracy out to about five kilometres from her person in atmosphere. She can hear even minute sounds from dozens of metres away. She can smell very faint traces of odour up to several hours since the scent was first created. Her taste buds are quite sensitive to even minute changes of flavour. Her skin is sensitive to the touch of even minute animals such as fleas. Due to her past addictions, the Dominatrix is very good at sensing out illicit drugs. Thanks to the memories of her past-selves, the Dominatrix can discipline herself to negate the input of such sensations on her mind via a form of self-meditation.
Personality:
Yes, even bad girls can make it good if given the chance.
The current incarnation of Coyote made sure of that with Molly Hecht.
Sweet Valley in California – like many other towns across America – has its good and bad sides. Molly, the elder daughter of a normally separated couple whose breadwinner works mostly in San Francisco, comes from the bad side of town. A lonely girl who was forced to grow up early thanks to her having to pitch in to help keep things nice for her home and help raise her kid brother Ty, Molly would soon fall victim to the allure of street drugs as presented to him by a "cool" trader named William "Buzz" Jackson. By the time Molly herself was about to enter Sweet Valley High School, she was already addicted to crack cocaine, had tried marijuana and other forms of illicit drugs, had already surrendered her virginity to someone much older than her and was well on her way to become a teen drunkard like fellow Valley native Betsy Martin before she and her sister Tricia got the chance to become Cimasa and Tzaraath (see Entries 609 and 610).
A wandering visitor from another land – and another planet – changed all that with this one phrase spoken out to Molly and her friends Jan Brown and Tina Adams:
"You really shouldn't do that to yourself. Pretty girls don't need to do that."
Like so many others in the Valley over the previous five years, the lives of all three girls were forever changed that day.
Unlike other Valley natives who became metas, Molly teamed together with Jan (who became Pentagram) and Tina (who became Ruby Slippers); none of them know of the Boosters of Sweet Valley though they do suspect others in town have become metahumans. Dedicating themselves to helping others like them get off drugs, the three girls still acted as normal when dealing with outsiders. Deftly using specially-made synthetic drugs and drinks to simulate being stoned and drunk when it was required, the three girls kept a vigilant eye out for others who might succumb to the darker sides of such addictions and never get the chance to grow up into adulthood and live better lives for themselves.
Such was their approach to things when a girl named Regina Morrow came into their lives . . . and, thanks to heavy peer pressure and being in a situation the computer software investor's daughter had never been in before, eventually became Manacle (see Annex Entry 854-A).
Even if she traditionally was a heel in previous incarnations, the current Dominatrix – as her friends are also doing – is striving to live as good of a life as she can. Like many other "pretty girls" in the Book, Molly feels heavily indebted to Moroboshi Ataru for the incredible impact his actions towards her friends had on her life. However, Molly – while gladly admitting that Ataru is truly a "man" she could live the rest of her life with – isn't concerning herself with thoughts of starting her own family anytime soon. She still wants to finish high school and make sure that Ty is safely on his own way to making a life for himself before contemplating a move full-time to Yiziba; while she does still love her parents, Molly grates at the idea of living in a practically one-parent home with a father always off to San Francisco all week.
But when that day finally comes . . .!