"PRESENTS!"
Mia shot out of bed and landed flat footed on the floor, panicking before
she remembered where she was. In Isaac's house, in the guest room, safe
and sound.
"Presentspresentspresentspresents!"
"And that'll be Garet," she smiled to herself. She pulled a robe over her
nightshift and climbed down the stairs...
...To find Ivan cavorting around in his brand new purple pajamas amid bits
of brightly colored wrapping paper, an empty box covering his head. Apparently
he had gone on a rampage, shredding and ripping anything with the name
"Ivan" on it, and now seemed to be having more fun with the box than the
actual presents.
She couldn't help it. She started laughing.
"Ivan?" she gasped out, leaning against the banister for support. "WHAT
are you DOING?"
Ivan pulled the box off of his head, not the least bit embarrassed. "It's
Christmas, stupid. Come down here! We all got presents!"
And he stuck his tongue out at her.
"Mature, Ivan," she grinned. "Real mature. Last time anyone let's YOU sleep
on the couch on Christmas Eve."
"Hey! I had a horrible childhood!" Ivan protested. "My parents gave me
away to some egotistical freak that made me call him 'master' and his scary
wife who used to dress me up in pink dresses and do my hair in curls! And
THEN I'm dragged off on some crazy quest! I'm ALLOWED to be immature!"
Mia started laughing again. The image of Ivan in a frilly pink dress with
lots of lace and curls in his hair was enough to send anyone into hysterics.
The fact that he was now acting completely out of character only added
to her humor.
"Wha's goin' on?" Garet asked groggily, coming down the stairs, Isaac right
behind him and looking very dead. The two had roomed together for the night.
"Oh, Chris'mas."
"Uh huh!" Ivan nodded enthusiastically. The three Adepts reached the bottom
of the stairs. Isaac promptly crawled up onto the couch, pulled Ivan's
blanket over his head, and presumably fell asleep. Garet sat on the floor.
"Here, Mia!" Ivan pushed a rather long package into Mia's hands. "It's
for you! I picked it out 'specially."
"Why, thank you, Ivan," she managed a rather painful smile, carefully untying
the string holding the entire thing together.
"No! Open it faster! Here..."
And before she could protest, Ivan had ripped the blue wrapping paper into
confetti, which ended up decorating the entire living room. Mia sighed,
and opened the box.
"See!" Ivan pointed excitedly. "See! It's a new staff! Do you like it?
Do you? Do you?"
He bounced up and down with excitement.
"Yes, thank you," Mia twirled it in her fingers. The staff was long, thin
and silver, topped by a blue orb surrounded by silver filigree and trailing,
blue ribbons. "It's beautiful."
"Yeah, and it kicks some major-oomph."
Garet had pushed a present at him, knocking the wind out of him. "Here
ya go, li'l buddy! You missed
one!"
"Whoops!" Ivan exclaimed, a silly grin on his face. "Stupid."
"Alright," Mia growled, poking the head of her staff into the soft skin
underneath Garet's jaw. "WHICH abysmally STUPID person gave Ivan CHOCOLATE
for Christmas?"
"Chocolate?"
"Yes, chocolate," Mia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It's the only thing
that can set Adepts off like this, remember? Now, which one of you did
it?"
"I gave him the cloak," Garet protested, raising his chin so as not to
be impaled by Mia's new staff. "And Isaac gave him that book on Alchemy."
"Well it wasn't ME," Mia said, as if they were accusing her. "I gave him
those pajamas!"
"We know, you gave us all pajamas last night and made us wear them," Isaac
sat up, green pajamas revealed. "It might of been my mom. Or Kraden."
"Ivan..." Mia said slowly, keeping her words clear and precise. "Exactly
how much chocolate did you eat?"
"None! I only ate the raison cookies Kraden gave us! And Isaac's, 'cause
I know he doesn't like raisons," Ivan answered, unable to sit still for
more than two minutes. He leaned in over to Mia, smiling sweetly, and poked
her shoulder with one finger. "Tag. You're it! You're it!"
And he was running around the room again.
Mia pushed her staff into Garet's hands and dropped into a crouch, searching
the piles of presents. "Ah ha! My present from Kraden! This will clear
matters up!"
She didn't bother to try to keep the wrapping paper intact, taking a leaf
from Ivan's book and ripping the entire thing to shreds. The box underneath
contained raison cookies, just as Ivan had said. Still not trusting their
innocent appearence, she broke on in half. The center of the cookie contained
her worst fear.
"Chocolate," she whispered. All Adepts were highly allergic to chocolate,
and in the right amounts horrible, terrible events occured. The Adept consuming
the chocolate gained the mentality of a four-year-old, and unlimited Psynergy.
A very, VERY bad combination.
Particularly when it was a Jupiter Adept.
Particularly when that Jupiter Adept just happened to be Ivan.
"Stupid old man," Mia muttered. "All right. We're going to go over and
have a chat with Kraden."
"Go see Mr. Kraden!" Ivan mimicked her in a singsong voice. "Go see Mr.
Kraden, have a chat!"
"Ivan, go upstairs and get dressed," Mia ordered him. "You can wear that
new cloak that Garet gave you."
"Need help," Ivan turned his big, purple
eyes to her, blinking innocently. "Need your help, Mia. I don't know how
to put my clothes on."
Isaac and Garet burst out laughing. Mia tried desperately to keep her temper
under control. "Ivan, you know how to dress yourself, I promise. Just go
upstairs and GET DRESSED."
"Please help?"
"NO."
"Please?"
"No, no, and NO!"
"'Kay," looking slightly hurt, Ivan trudged his way up the stairs, head
down and obviously sulking.
Mia turned to the other two boys, who were still laughing. "It's NOT funny."
Part 2
