Taylor panicked when she found the note on her bed. She had come back late from Nicky's Friday night. Grace had made her come, though Taylor hadn't wanted to go without Tyler. But after what Caleb, Pogue, and Reid had told her what had happened that day at school, she figured he probably wouldn't have wanted to come anyways.
She had actually come into the dorm early Saturday morning, and when she read Tyler's note she had phoned Caleb right away. Apparently he and the other boys had gotten one too, and Tyler's parents. They were meeting at the Simms' house as soon as possible.
Taylor was already parking her truck. Everyone else was here already. She got out and ran to the door and opened it, not bothering to knock. Rex looked at her and wagged his tail, but didn't budge from Glen Simms' side.
Glen and Rose Simms sat on the couch, he with one hand on his chin, the other absentmindedly patting Rex, she staring into the fire, her face expressionless.
Pogue was sitting on one of the Lay-Z Boys; Reid standing in a corner and Caleb was sitting on the bay window sill. He looked up as Taylor walked in, and the talking began.
" Do any of you boys, or Taylor, know where he could've gone?"
They shook their heads.
" But," Reid spoke up; " He was acting weird at school the last couple of days."
Glen's eyes sparked with interest. " Like how?"
" I'm not entirely sure. He seemed moody, distant, and, oh yeah got into a fight with a guy from school that he started."
Glen frowned. That was indeed unlike his son.
" Anything else?"
" Yeah, he shoved Caleb and told him to screw off," Reid added.
" Tyler did that?"
" Yepp."
Glen looked thoughtful, then turned to her wife. " Rose, you've been awfully quiet."
Rose looked up and they could see in her eyes that she wasn't saying something.
" Rose…"
" Well, I may have something to do with Tyler's absence."
" What is it?"
" Tyler and I got into a disagreement and I told him that he had changed…"
" So?"
"…Because of his and his friends' heritage."
A pause.
" What?" This was Caleb.
" I told him that the only reason the four of you were friends is because of your power. He got upset."
" You told him that we were friends because of our power?" Reid demanded. " How could you say that to him?"
" Well, it's true isn't it?"
" No!"
Taylor spoke for the first time during the meeting. " No one can know that for sure."
They turned to her, Pogue speaking. " What?"
" Well, think about it. Maybe it's possible that you wouldn't have been friends. There's no way to know for sure."
Rose turned away again, obviously hiding something.
Glen noticed. " Rose?"
She faced them again. " I told him about the stone."
His eyes widened. " You did that? Why Rose?"
Caleb looked at Taylor and the other boys, but none of them understood. " What stone?"
" There's this legend that tells of a stone that could take the person anywhere."
" You mean, like a teleportation device?"
" Not exactly. It takes you to different realities." Everyone looked blank, except Glen. She sighed. " For example, lets say you had a sibling and you wanted to see what life would be like if you were an only child. You'd tell this to the stone and you'd be there."
They took this all in. Pogue spoke. " Forever?"
" No no. Once you were satisfied, you'd tell the stone that you wanted to go back home, and you'd be done."
" So…you could use this for anything?" Caleb asked.
" Yes."
" Like finding out what life would've been like without powers?" Reid asked, a glint in his eyes.
" Yes, but that's not where he went."
" How do you know?"
" Because the stone is a legend. It doesn't exist."
" Well maybe he went to find it."
Taylor was puzzled. " But in Tyler's note he said to not try to find him because we won't. I assumed he meant with your powers. If he was still here, then you'd be able to find him by Using, wouldn't you?"
The boys considered this. Caleb nodded. " That's true."
" So where is he?" Pogue asked.
Reid looked thoughtful. " Maybe…maybe somehow he found it. The stone. It would explain where he went. And we wouldn't be able find him."
" So…if he did manage to find this stone, what do we do now?" Taylor asked.
Glen settled back into the couch. " We wait."
Please review!