Lemuria Chapter 2
"Friday night here in this sullen intersection right behind me is where a major accident took place killing a family of five and later a group of high schoolstudents who attend both Mother McAuley and Brother Rice high schools." It was Saturday morning now, Tara lingered lazily in the soft green doughy chair, arms tightly around a bundle of blankets. "Lucky.." She muttered to herself.
Her long fingers traced the erect design of flowers upon the arm of the chair she sat in as she gazed across the living room to the crystal box presenting a news story concerning what occurred the previous night on 99th and Pulaski.
"Tyler!" Tara called, partly yawning through dreary words, feeling like she didn't sleep at all. Icy blue eyes gave a glance towards her bed room door as if expecting something, anything.
The door glanced back, its dark and smooth wood shined a good morning in her direction. Ever since she freaked out last night in front of Shawn, Tara was positive he would be here any moment to baby sit her ALL day. Shawn and Mickey were becoming more like a couple of fathers to her instead of friends or annoying brothers.
Subdued, Tyler's vexed voice droned out a "What?!"
'Wow, guess he just woke up.'
"Hmm.." "Got any juice?!" Tara smiled feeling slightly flippant. For long moments no one had answered leaving her a ticket to free fall in a pensive mind.
Shawn and Michael weren't always so irritating to her. Actually Mickey and Shawn used to be the complete opposite. Tara remembered how they would goof off all the time, and just walk for miles and miles talking and having fun restaurant hopping.
They'd occasionally be spotted by groups of girls and from their appearance automatically had every girl within miles swarming the area.
Together the trio could spend all morning together, merge with Mickey and Maggie in the afternoon and as night came along Shawn and Michael would disappear as the other daughters joined the party. During the night, Tara and her six friends would gather with others at an underground night club.
It was pretty great Tara smiled in remembrance, until about two months ago when she became the new goal of power for the Anti to obtain. To actually baby sit her 24/7 AND begin skipping out on their night trips just to watch her was something Michael and Shawn would NEVER do. Unless..
To actually convince her friends let alone her best friend, whom was her first sister Jana, not to tell her anything about anything? Either they figured out her secret abilities or something worse than what she realized was happening.
Her mind drifted back to the good times they had. Tara took strong advantage of her two brother figure godly appearances quite often and always auctioned them off to the insane fan girls flooding the city. Michael was the type to just brush it off and not really care, he wouldn't do anything he didn't want to do and no one ever had a say or do about it. Shawn on the other hand just avoided the whole thing all together and would conceal himself along the sidelines as a blue jay until Tara and Michael were done having their laughs and collecting the dough.
"Tyler, you know I'm lazy! What's taking so long?!" Her temples throbbed from the meandering thoughts that inundated around her every corner. Where was Tyler and that orange juice?
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Literally floating in mid air a glass of orange juice handed itself to Tara from her right side.
"Girl can't live without her OJ." Tyler's voice referred to Maggie who had a fetish for any kind of tangy or tropical fruit.
"Mmhm." Moments later Tara sipped the cool and tart juice. By the frozen chunks she immediately knew it was Granny's special orange juice and also Maggie's favorite kind. She guessed Tyler must have slipped a jug into his dimensional pocket for Maggie before they left the shop last night.
"Thanks Ty! I'm sure Granny will be absolutely thrilledto see you next time!" Tara hinted mischievously.
"You are very welcome! And I'm sure Shawn would love to read those poems about him! O la la! His flawless face illuminated by the flickering flames of hundreds of ancient candles, eyes burning with a frightening. savage. hunger. A hunger he clearly needed to satisfy. He the predator and I.. Tara the helpless prey!" Tyler dramatically recited in a high pitched tone, stifling laughs.
"Shut up Tyler! Shut up!" Tara screamed in embarrassmentat the top of her lungs. Tyler roared with laughter that faded out as he closed the door between realms leaving him and his laughter to be.
"I sware I'll kill him. Those poems aren't even about Shawn!" Tara told herself angrily, her face flushed sheepishly. She didn't know Tyler found his way to her journals, let alone actually read them. Obviously he had a very good time to from the sound of his cute laughter.
Truthfully though, Tara had no inkling of a clue who the poems were about. She'd just get random blurry visions or ideas and jot them down. Frequently after she went back and read them over she would find herself revising something here and there.
Rays of sunlight leaked through the white washed curtains that hid the window. Merrily upon the cool floor beneath her feet danced images of the eternal flames without a care in the world or anything to loose.
Tara bit her lip and frowned, wishing she could be carefree so easily like the sun's radiant rays. Tyler's intrusion mattered not anymore as for other things began crossing her mind.
"Barack Obama has scheduled to give an important speech June 27th world wide discussing matters of a rumored 'alien invasion.' Little information has been leaked but the most recent shocking video has concluded theories that there are misfits among us." A blurry video of black flames flared across the screen, out of a crevice in the earth's terrain. The most icy unnatural chill Tara ever felt, embedded into her bones upon reaction of the most terrifying noise ever. A noise of the billions of lost and tortured souls straight from the eternal inequity of hell.
"Jesus!" Tara clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from cursing in the name of the holy one. Pain shot through her forehead as she sickeningly observed two male beings with glowing red slits for eyes rise out of the black flames. Their broad wide shoulders easily distinguished them right away as males.
The medium beagle began barking ferociously from the kitchen in uncertain fear of the terrible screaming blaring from the flat screen.
"Quiet!" Tara seethed in pain. Her hand shot out to search for the remote upon the glass coffee table besides her. Papers fluttered to the floor, along with the remote which fell with an echoing clunk.
The sound of batteries spilling out and rolling in various directions brought an anxious feeling to her heart as Tara scampered forward to gather them.
"Cuso!" She cursed in Japanese. Her knees ached from impact on the hard surface, and her foot bumped into the table's leg. With a deafening shatter the large glass of orange juice, still full, toppled to the wood surface.
The wasted pulpy juice splashed to the chair and splatted her back. An eerie foreboding sense struck Tara familiar as if she'd seen the gloomy figures before. Tara had caught sight of many terrible things before in past lives and this one, but never seen or heard anything that... tortured... lifeless... evil.
Fear is minor to the emotion felt as she listened to the warped painful screeching.
"Tara!?" As a rift opened in the air Tyler awkwardly tumbled through the black sliver stretching from the ceiling to the floor. Maggie skidded out after him but neither became affected by the screeching Tara could hear quite clearly.
"Pull the plug!" Vision blurring in and out and feeling nauseous Tara was extremely grateful for having Maggie and Tyler barge through.
"She means the TV." Maggie noticed the controller's contents scattered about. "I'll get it." She rushed to move the great antique speakers out of the way to get to the plug.
The speakers at one time belonged to her Earth father who passed away when Tara was only thirteen.
Tyler came to her aid, gathering her in his arms as she slumped to the floor slipping in and out of consciousness. "Maggie, don't bother with the TV, she needs ice! Her temperature has gone off the scale!" Tyler urgently dragged the insulated blankets from around her.
Tara groaned, bobbing her head that buzzed in blinding pain. "You got it!" Maggie abandoned the TV and disappeared back into the black rift hanging in the atmosphere. Long howls and fierce growls neared closer.
"Silence."Tyler's voice rumbled deeply, seeping across all noise like a great roll of calming thunder. Jozie ceased barking and gave a faint whine submissively. The screen flickered out to grey and even the sunlight on the floor stood still at his command.
"Well dang.. you never showed me that before." Tara stuttered in awe through malady.
"Well..." Tyler rose to his feet with her dangling in his arms. "That's because I didn't feel like it." Both caught a glimpse of a passing by group of teenagers, all of whom looked perfectly normal.
"Oh yeah that's a great reason not to show me something cool." Tyler gave Tara a look that clearly told her to stop trying to be so brave, she would only intensify her pain. Upon this Tara closed her eyes and relaxed into a state of self healing.
"Mhm..." She could hear the smile on his face and knew immediately he was still thinking about her poems. Tara said nothing in return and listened to the light foot steps of his shoes, almost as if he weighed nothing or wasn't there to begin with.
In the next minute Tara was healing rapidly on her own while Tyler watched from the foot of her bed. A red aura surrounded her like a funnel cloud of raspberries and cotton candy. Their eyes had been locked in a dream state for a good ten minutes now, looking but not seeing the other.
Tara's lungs struggled to work on their own, she could feel them sinking in to themselves and collapsing. They just wouldn't heal no matter how many times she commanded her cells to heal themselves.
Maggie was a beautiful girl, with long arms, legs, slim, and the most gorgeous naturally wavy magenta hair Tara had ever seen. It fell like a beautiful waterfall down to her waist and it flowed with bounce along every graceful gesture and step she took. Her skin glowed a milky creamy color that always looked perfect no matter what kind of conditions she was in. Tan freckles swam across her cute teddy bear nose.
As far as distinguishing features go, Maggie also had magenta pupil-less eyes which were the same pigment as her hair, but deep and haunting almost like they were looking right through everybody. Maggie was kind, gentle and a great listener. Also, Tara knew Maggie to be very unusually shy. Tyler gazed up longingly at Maggie as she appeared quite reserved leaning in the doorway. She blushed heavily as Mickey hopped up to offer her a seat.
They both no doubt were madly in love with each other, but Maggie was always to shy to ever look at Tyler directly, let alone confess her love to him. She twiddled her fingers together and shifted from one foot to the next as Tyler melted into the air and slid out of the wall besides her. He didn't need to say anything for Maggie to know he wanted her to sit down but, unfortunately the poor girl seemed frozen in place. 'Note to self, tell Tyler that trying to be cool isn't going to get him anywhere, it's just going to creep everyone out and send us all running for the hills.' Tara noted.
A spiraling curl of her luscious silky hair slowly draped over one of her eyes giving her a more seductive and mystique look. Tara watched as Tyler's muscles began to tense and his aura began darkening.
"For the love of god Tyler, just kiss her or I'll auction her off!" Both Tyler and Maggie jumped out of their trance and began stuttering incoherently, their faces washed red as tomatoes. Tara rolled her eyes and laughed.
"I'll stay with Tara, you should go to that Lemurian dance competition. It begins at noon." Maggie spoke to Tyler through a wall of her hair while her eyes found something extremely interesting on the floor by her toe nails, painted gold.
Tyler shrugged and stuffed his hands deep in the pockets of his white jeans.
"I would... but I need a partner." Tara raised her eye brow sensing the civil hint Mickey dropped when he quickly flashed his crystal blue eyes towards her, then let out a long whistle and shuffled his feet rhythmically.
"Oh the noes.." She groaned irritatedly. In the daytime Tyler's eyes were always blue like the sky. If anyone looked close enough they could spot small clouds pass by as if perhaps gazing out mini windows that peered into an endless serene sky, never being burdened by the moon.
At night they became a metallic enchanting gold and the night prowler inside him was released. Like a cat he could become very unfaithful and occasionally she had to drag him out of night clubs away from clawing and biting females angry that their toy was commandeered. Like a wolf though, he could rip anyone or anything who threatened him, to shred's.
Tara rolled her eyes for the millionth time that morning and forced herself upright. Maggie and Tyler both looked at her, each hinting her a different thing. She strongly disliked being caught in the middle of love stories, more specifically pathetic ones. Inwardly, Tara vowed never to get herself caught up in romance, it would be to much trouble and she certainly had enough already.
"Ugh.. Maggie go with him. If he doesn't have a dance partner he can't be in it. You know he is an amazing dancer and Ty's got a great opportunity here. Do you want to ruin his fun?" Recovering slowly Tara squeezed one eye closed as her vision blurred again and blood rushed to her temples. Two hands steadied her as she inclined under a heat wave.
"Oh no, no no no no Tara, I mustn't! I am a terrible dancer and you know that!"
"Okrelax girl, chill! Chill!" Tara convulsed her head in an attempt to clear the fogginess. When she opened her eyes, those wide and haunting magenta pools pleaded withher silently. She pried Maggie's hands off her shoulders and shookher head again. Maggie backed off and bumped into Mickey then let out a frightened squeal when his hands settled on her waist to keep her from tripping over a book she was about to step on.
"Sorry." Tyler raised his hands in apology as Maggie stumbled and sunk into the soft purple bedding next to Tara as if she was just attacked viciously instead of rescued from injury. Tyler couldn't feign any mask besides the truth of disappointment and once again looked down to Tara for a rescue.
Tara sighed in exasperation. "Will you please come with me then? If I collapse from over doing it I'll need your healing abilities." Maggie looked up from her lap and nodded reluctantly in agreement.
"Ok.." She paused and looked around the room as if expecting to see a familiar face other than hers, or perhaps a way out of this situation. "But... I don't think your in any kind of condition to be dancing... Your body temperature is normally 40 degrees Fahrenheit, it shot up to 105 degrees." Poor Maggie looked more worried about Tara than Tara felt about herself.
"That's an extremelydramatic alteration. It could have done eternal damage. At least allow me to scan you and correct any damage." Maggie conveyed herself in a very young and wispy voice. Some how unintentionally seductive with so much innocence like that of a new born child.
Tara smiled and nodded. Maggie was one of the best healers she ever met, maybe even the best of all! Those deep eyes now digressed to a bright ultraviolet green and scanned Tara's face then she glided her french nails through the air leaving a trail of silver sparkles. The sparkles glittered and winked like the milky way's stars. Tara recognized them as very tiny data bases of information Maggie scanned from her body. They would soon disappear but be forever assimilated in her eternal analysis.
Tremors traveled between Tara's cells where nuclear energy set in on her skin all over her body where it ditched remnants of more uncomfortable heat. Summer definitely wasn't her favorite season, not since the gates were opened by the council at least. Many beings from hundreds of other frequencies crossed and migrated to earth's frequency.
With the gates open her powers and ultimately anyone else on Earth with inhumane abilities would finally have access to them. Never completely was access granted to reach their full abilities. Only unless the seal put upon the gate by the great thirteen was broken completely would unlimited abilities be granted to absolutely everyone, GOOD and EVIL.
The gates are an abstract theory of the seal and walls separating each frequency. When the gates are closed no beings are able to hop any frequencies freely. Only three ways remain to hopping frequencies and one is you would have to be wearing a special artifact.
Another way is you could only pass would be with direct permission from the council or if you had enough power to defy the council and their laws the gates wouldn't exist. Rarely though, only once in an eternity does some prodigy come around strong enough to break the seal of the thirteen leaders of the universe's upon the gates.
If broken it would endanger everyone, peace would cease to exist and to be safe... not even the dead would be safe anymore. It would be every man for themselves..
"Find anything?" Tara questioned, glancing at Tyler whom waited patiently, leaning against the auburn wall decorated with pressed maple leaves. Tyler was busy nodding his head to music only he could hear and admiring Maggie's abilities from a far.
"Hmm... it's... it's so odd..." Maggie's eyes returned to their normal state, a troubled expression graced her lovely face. "It's as if the molecules in your lungs have been totally destroyed. Specific cells in several of your internal organs, especially the cerebrum and cortex in your brain, have been ruptured and disintegrated."
"The damage isn't fatal, but it appears someone either meant to pry some information out of you, or meant to have erased some thing they don't want you to have." Maggie explained thoroughly.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and when it didn't stay flipped it over her shoulder. It's smell filled the room with the scent of apples and cherries. "What really happened back there?" Maggie questioned casually as Tyler backed out of the room. He was never able to remain around Maggie for to long. Self control was what he seriously lacked.
"I'll be in the back yard." Tyler called out as he rushed hurriedly down the hall and pulled open the front door.
"Alright, we'll only be a minute!" Tara answered back then stretched her arms above her head. Maggie fell silent against next to her. They both listened to the heavy security door slam behind Mickey as he strived to escape his desires.
"Tara..." Oddly, Maggie's hands felt very cold when they touched Tara's hands. She couldn't tell if it only felt that way because her temperature was high or because something really was wrong with Maggie.
"I'm listening." Tara nodded gently and tucked her legs underneath her. The sound of a clock ticking in the other room caught her attention. It was only then she realized how quiet things had gotten. It had been a while since she heard her dog Jozie bark, or the cats playing with each other. All they did lately was stare out the window and jump at loud noises, then run and cower. Her Earth mother spent all day from 6AM to about 4 or 5PM at work.
"I..." Maggie opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut immediately. Her eyes grew wide as she looked towards the wall. Tara looked too but seen nothing. Maggie inched closer to her until their shoulders were touching then whispered, "It's coming." Tara froze and squeezed Maggie's hands. That voice that just escaped her friend definitely was not her own. It was to... dark. A draft of unnaturally cool air blew through Tara's black hair.
"The dark hides the night." Tara shivered violently and jerked away from Maggie. The moment they parted the unusual sense of fear disappeared and all went back to normal. Maggie blinked, "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"No..." Tara paused as the last remains of a silky shadow crept through a crack in the floor to the basement. "But close enough..." Tara was more focused on convincing herself she was safe than convincing Maggie. It was rare to see shadows like that in broad day light. They never dared come near her around friends let along in the light. Plus normal shadows aren't powerful enough to withstand it.
Twenty minutes later Tara slipped out of the bathroom, pulling a green shirt over her head dressed in comfortable black shorts with silver linings. The green shirt had darker green iridescent powdery spars rising from the bottom, up as if grazing smoke from a pond of sticky radiation.
"I haven't been in Lemuria since last years festival." Tara slipped on a pair of rich black fighting gloves, open at the finger tips. "Remember that?" A smile crept across her tan face seeing Maggie blush. Bothof them remembered well, how could they forget? That one particular festival was a time Maggie almost ran off with a Lemurian boy after captured in a weird spell that forced her infatuations upon him.
After all Lemuria is not just an island of highly advanced teenagers but also known as the land of love. The leaves of the palm trees grow as a luscious powdery pink and smell like mangos. The sand is golden and the waters cerulean blue. There is never a cloud in the sky and every sunset is painted by the clan of the sky, the Mystery clan rumored to be led by Leanardo Da Vincci whom became leader after he died and crossed from earth's realm.
"Mickey was so furious!" Tara laughed and twirled around the room joyfully. She slipped on a pink slipper and gasped as she fell into a bulky computer cabinet. "Ah I am so clumsy." Maggie smiled shyly without any comments, softly brushing her long hair with a maroon brush. Her eyes drifted down the hallway towards the back of the house.
"Thinking of Mickey?" The brush Maggie was holding so loosely clattered as it fell to the floor. The obvious obviously need not be pointed out.
"Oh no no no. I'm just thinking." She quickly bent over and picked it up, her hair fell over her shoulder into a heap at her feet. It really was very long, the magenta color shined brightly under the light creeping through the window.
"Of Mickey." Tara picked up a black brush and ran it a few times through her medium hair, then pulled it back into a green pony tail. She could see Maggie staring at her through a mirror in the corner. The look on her face was pensive as if admiring her.
"What?" Tara asked and examined herself in the mirror looking for errors. Everything seemed normal, her black Japanese style hair, large icy blue eyes, evenly and naturally tanned skin, the beauty mark under her right eye and another on her soft cheek. The casual green t-shirt smoothed down her figure over her hips and black shorts. Nothing looked out of place.
"Your beautiful. Don't you see that?" Maggie's response sounded more like a desperate compliment she couldn't stress enough then a simple answer. Tara raised her eye brow and looked in the mirror again only to see the same girl staring back at her. The same lost eyes and lonely distressed expression that always seemed to make its home on her face.
"Hmmm, I don't see it." Tara spun around playfully and pressed her fists to her hips tilting her head to the side.
"You never do.." Maggie sighed and tossed the brush aside as she stood up. She was wearing an orange sequined dress flowing like daisies an inch below her knee, one side clipped up to her thigh with a gold star pin. Underneathth she wore white shorts with the same powdery sparkles on them like Tara's shirt except in blue. Native American bracelets of all colors twisted up each wrist.
A beautiful four pointed metallic gold necklace with a gold topaz stone in the middle hung around her long neck. A silk white scarf was wrapped loosely around her relaxed shoulders.
"Your beautiful, not me Maggie." Tara laughed and grinned happily. She was never the type to be able to stay angry or sad for very long.
"I'm only what you made me to be." Maggie gestured toward the door and followed behind Tara as they pushed through the security door and out onto the porch.
"Your still beautiful though. You know that." Tara said admiringly as they hopped down the steps, the door crashed closed behind them. Being such a heavy metal door they were used to the loud bang it made.
"Thank you." The day felt warm, the sun light traced her skin like an artists brush. 'I'll make the most of today. I need to relax.' She thought to herself as they turned down the gangway, their footsteps echoed along the concrete. Voices drifted out of the yard carried by the wind. She recognized Tyler's laughter but vaguely the voices of the two females chatting with him flirtatiously.
"Oh my- me too!"
