Okay, so here we go with chapter number two!
much luv
deke
It took Rob nearly all night to try to remember how to reach the quarry. He wished Todd was with him because he was sure that Todd would have remembered right away how to reach it. Making matters worse was the fact that the sun had set, and now he was making his way through the woods in darkness. At least there weren't any bears.
At long last, Rob noticed a clearing in the trees and made his way towards it. He stepped clear of the forest, and before him stretched the quarry. It was larger than he had remembered it being. He smiled when he saw the water - a murmur of the contentment he had felt while swimming returned to him. It was like being welcomed back home.
In spite of everything that had happened that day, he tried to feel optimistic. He knew that something would work itself out and that he would end up being okay.
Rob walked out to the ledge - the quarry was surrounded in cliffs that ranged from eighty feet to twenty feet above the water. There was only one place where the ledge actually made a beach - and the beach itself was only a hundred yards or so. The quarry itself had to be a mile wide at least.
Rob climbed down to the beach, and put his back pack on the sand. He looked around the water, but there was nobody in sight. He was utterly alone. He wished he had remembered this place when he was going through high school - it was a great place to think.
Rob shook his head, because he wasn't in the mood to think right now. He felt an incredible desire to go swimming, and he didn't want to waste any time to hinder it. He took off his shoes and his hoodie and threw them next to his back pack, and stepped into the water.
It should have felt freezing, after all it was November, but surprisingly, he couldn't feel a thing. The water had no effect on him. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him? Rob smiled, for it meant that he could go swimming that night. What a wonderful mutation! But it wasn't the time to think about it now. It was time to go swimming.
Rob jumped into the water, and joy once again swallow him. He swam under the surface of the water, and opening his eyes, he realized he could see better under the water than above it. He kicked his legs and he swam lower and lower below the surface.
He soon needed air, but he had swam far too low below the surface. Fear hit him as he wondered if he would drown, the surface was so far away. He didn't even attempt to reach it. Instinct told him what to do, and he breathed in water.
And he was fine. It was a strange feeling, and he wasn't sure how he could do it, but Rob could breath underwater. Happiness swelled within him. How much better could this get?
Now it became apparent to him just how fast he really could swim. In the wide open stretches of the quarry, he had all the space in the world. He dove deeper and deeper into the water, looking at the structure of the quarry in amazement. He could spend days under here just exploring. And he kept swimming deeper and deeper.
Rob had no idea how deep the water would get, but he could guess that it wasn't going to end any time soon. And then his stomach gave a delightful leap. He could breath under water, the temperature had no effect on him - how fortunate was he? He could not help feeling that he was the luckiest guy in the world at that moment. He was so happy, even in the face of all the terrible things that had happened to him that day, he could still take pleasure in such simple things. But no time to think about that now, there was a whole quarry left to explore!
The next day at school was nothing short at hell for Todd. Nearly everyone who passed him in the halls shot him looks for terror or hatred, kids threw things at him in class, and hardly anyone talked to him as if in fear that he'd retaliated by shooting lasers at them.
He gave up trying to stick up for his brother long ago - nobody would listen at all. So he just kept his mouth shut and dealt with it.
Dealing with his parents the night before was worse. . He had told his parents that Rob went out with Monica that night, and since the school didn't call at four, he had nearly forgotten about it. Then, at dinner, the phone rang. Todd had forgotten about it until it was too late.
He winced as he heard his mother talk on the phone, only a few lines of dialogue passed her lips as she hung up the phone.
" Who was that, honey?," Todd's dad asked, and Todd slowly slid deeper into his chair as if trying to slid under the table altogether.
" Craig, can you come here," she said, her voice obviously weak.
Todd tried to imagine he was invisible - hoping he had the mutant abilities of his brother to make people see what he wanted the to see or not see - as he heard his parents whispering in the other room. Then, the inevitable.
" Todd! Get in here." That was Todd's dad calling. Todd slowly got out of the chair and walked into the family room.
Todd did the best he could to explain what had happened when Rob came home that day. He didn't want his parents to know that he had skipped class, but the school had told them that over the phone, too. All night they sat together and heard what Todd had to say.
Just as Todd had predicted, his parents didn't feel angry at all. They were shocked and scared, but even more worried that Rob had run away. Todd kept his word and didn't reveal where Rob had gone. The night was overcast in sadness.
They asked if he wanted to take the next few days of school off. For one reason or another, Todd declined the offer. He didn't want to take Rob as an excuse to miss school, but as soon as he got to the building he knew he regretted the opportunity.
And now he had hardly made it through the first hour of school and he was ready to leave. He knew his parents wouldn't be upset if he left, and the idea was incredibly tempting. During the middle of his math class, he stood up and left the room, taking his books with him.
He didn't have to explain it to the teacher.
Todd stopped at his locker, hoping that a few days would be all that it would take for things to cool down at the school. He threw his books into his locker, and looked at the mirror that was stuck to the door. There was someone standing next to him.
Todd jumped and wheeled around, face to face with another student. Todd couldn't remember her name, but he was terribly worried about why she was there.
" Look, I know your brother is a mutant," the girl said.
" No, shit, everybody in school knows that," Todd replied.
The girl lowered her gaze. She couldn't have been older than he was.
" They don't know it, but... I'm a mutant, too."
" You are?," Todd responded. The girl didn't say anything for a while, but she had the same sense of desperation that he had seen in Rob's eyes. Todd could only guess at what they both were feeling - alone and hated in a world that rejected them.
" He ran away didn't he?," she asked.
" Uh, I guess."
" Look, why are you telling me this?," Todd asked.
" I think I can help him."
" How?"
" There's this school I've heard about - it's just for mutants." The girl lowered her voice as she said that. " It's not too far from here, I think it'd just take a few hours or so. I just didn't know, maybe he was going there."
Todd had never heard of the school, and he sure that Rob hadn't either. But he didn't know if he trusted this girl.
" What can you do?," Todd asked, his voice clearly showing that he wouldn't take her seriously if she couldn't prove to him that she was a mutant.
The girl showed Todd her open palm, and then she closed it into a fist. When she opened her hand back up, there was a tiny version of herself standing in her hand.
" Whoa!," Todd exclaimed as if it were a victory.
" Shhh!," the girl scolded.
" Sorry," Todd mumbled, and then realized he was being rude, " Sorry, what's your name?"
" Kelly," the girl replied, and then she looked down at the fairy sized girl in her hand, " Her name is Scoot."
" I'm Todd," Todd replied, " Look, I don't mean to be blunt, but I'm skipping school. Do you want to come over to my house?"
Kelly smiled and agreed.
The weather was significantly colder than the day before. The temperature plummeted down to 40 degrees, and both teens were wrapped in their winter coats. On the way to his house, Todd and Kelly talked about Rob. He told her that he was hiding out at the quarry and that they should go visit him. Todd could only imagine how happy Rob would be at hearing that there was a school for mutants that he could go to. He remembered how Rob had acted the night before - his brother was always optimistic about things, but there was a fear that he could not conceal.
Todd and Kelly made their way through the forest. Rob had been right, Todd found his way to the quarry in only half the time that it had taken Rob. They stood on the cliff side looking over the cliff.
" How are we going to find him?," Kelly asked. Scoot was sitting on Kelly's shoulder and looked over the water.
" Let's go," Todd replied and they made their way to the beach that Rob had found the night before. They carefully climbed down the sandy shore and stood there for a few moments, not really knowing what to do.
Scoot jumped down from Kelly's shoulder and walked to the water's edge. She dabbed her foot in the water.
" The temperature is cold. Fifty two degrees," Scoot replied.
" How do you know?," Todd asked.
" She can tell," Kelly replied, " She's like my own personal thermometer. But she knows all sorts of things, too. Very practical stuff like that."
But Scoot wasn't listening to them, she was peering over the water.
" Sound travels better through water than it does through air," Scoot said, " I can tell him that we are here."
" See, I told you, she knows everything," Kelly beamed as Scoot lowered her head below the water. Kelly shivered.
" Oh, I can feel the water," Kelly said, shivering more, " It is cold. How can your brother deal with it?"
" You can feel it?," Todd asked.
" Yeah, what she feels, I can feel. Oh, that's better," Kelly explained. Scoot was out of the water and was walking up to Kelly.
" He heard me," Scoot said, " He is coming."
Todd, Kelly, and Scoot were silent as they waited for Rob to appear. A minute ticked by and nothing happened. They were staring at the water directly in front of them, completely oblivious to the fact that Rob was sitting on the cliff above them, starring at them.
" Hey!," he shouted when he decided his fun was over.
The three down by the shore looked up, and Todd laughed.
" So you're red all the time now?," Todd asked. Rob looked down at his bare chest - his skin had changed red and it did not return back to normal, which greatly complimented his black hair and dark eyes.
" No, I guess not," Rob shouted back, happy to see his brother, " You're here a little early. Skipped school again?"
" Don't remind me," Todd said. Scoot suddenly tugged at Kelly.
" There are men coming," Scoot said desperately, " Police men."
Todd overheard that, and he turned to Scoot, " What do they want?"
" The news this morning!," Scoot reminded Kelly.
" Oh, god!," Kelly exclaimed, " On the news, that kid Jim, he got really badly hurt - he got hit by a car on his way to school, and they were blaming Rob. They were saying it was some kind of mutant revenge."
" Why didn't I hear anything like that?," Todd exclaimed, obviously he had been in school, but it was too late to look for answers. Todd turned back to where Rob was standing, " Rob!"
Rob looked down at Todd, " What?"
But Todd couldn't answer. Behind Rob, there were five officers charging. There wasn't even a second to say anything. Scoot hid herself in Kelly's coat.
" Robert Vincennes!," one of the officers shouted, and Rob wheeled around. Obviously he didn't expect anything like this. He didn't even move, he didn't have anytime to move. They were upon him in a matter of seconds.
The officers all tackled Rob in one single move. They pinned him onto his back, and he struggled against them as best as he could. But he was helpless. One of the officers drew a spray can of mace from his belt and sprayed Rob in the face with it. Rob screamed desperately - he couldn't do anything to stop the pain of it, the officers pinned his arms to the ground. They were trying as best as they could to flip him onto his stomach so that they could put handcuffs on him, but Rob was doing everything he could to escape.
" Todd!," Rob shouted out desperately, and one of the officers stood up and kicked him in the chest.
" Todd!," Rob shouted once again as the officers pinned him onto his stomach. They wrapped his arms behind his back, Rob was resisting them as best as he could as he shouted out to his brother, " Run home!"
Todd didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed Kelly's hand out of pure instinct and ran up the beach. Neither of them could even think of anything else to do. They ran to the forest, and only then did Todd turn to look at his brother.
Just then, all five officers burst into flames.
Todd and Kelly stood watching, absolutely helpless to do anything. They watched as the officers screamed and shouted for what seemed like an eternity.
" Oh, god," Kelly said, a hand flying to her mouth as she watched.
" They aren't - ," Scoot started, but something much more spectacular cut her off. In one moment, the officers were burning alive, the next all five were fine, not a single one of them burned. It had all been an illusion and Rob was no where to be seen.
" He went back into the water!," Scoot exclaimed.
" We have to get home," Kelly said.
" But what if he needs us?," Todd demanded.
" I'll stay here," Scoot answered, " I'll hide from the officers and I'll help Rob when I find him."
" Can you?," Kelly asked.
" Yes," Scoot replied, and she jumped down from Kelly. Kelly stood transfixed for a few moments, Todd tugging on her arm.
" Come on!," Todd said and Kelly finally turned away.
" Good bye!," Scoot called out.
Todd and Kelly ran as fast as they could. Kelly looked as if she could not bear being separated from Scoot, but they both ran. They ran and ran until finally, they both collapsed on the forest floor.
" We must be miles from that place by now," Kelly said, a hand hanging over her heart.
" Are you okay?," Todd asked.
" It's just Scoot, I..." Kelly replied, but Todd could understand, " We've never been apart for this long. It hurts."
Todd was silent as he thought about what he had just seen.
" Why did they do that?," Todd asked no one in particular.
" They're afraid of us, well, I mean mutants," Kelly answered.
" But they didn't have to be so... brutal. Why'd they spray him with mace?"
" It's supposed to be painful enough so we can't use our powers. It's just what they do," Todd glared at Kelly as though she wasn't being sympathetic enough, " Look, can you blame them for being afraid? Weren't you afraid of your brother when you found out?"
"No."
They sat in silence for a while.
" How long have you known?," Todd asked her.
" Three years," Kelly replied, " I was alone when I first made her. I never told anyone that I was a mutant. No one knew a thing. At least Scoot can come back into me and hide - that way I could keep it to myself.. I shouldn't have to do that, though."
Todd stood up. He had already regained his breath. They didn't feel the need to run anymore and they walked back to Todd's house. They took their time, partly because they were hoping that any second Rob would rejoin them. But he didn't. By the time they got home, it was about one in the afternoon. Todd's parents were already home - did they hear about what Rob was accused of?
Todd walked through the back door.
" Mom? Dad?," Todd called out. Kelly looked around the house.
" Todd?," that was his mother's voice. She walked around the corner, and couldn't compose herself anymore. She looked upon her son and burst into tears.
" Mom!," Todd cried out and they rushed to her side.
" The p-police just left," she sobbed, " Do you know what they are saying Robbie did? That he hurt Jim?"
" He didn't. I know he didn't," Todd said to reassure her, " I know him, he would never do something like that."
" I know," she sobbed, " But they didn't listen."
" Keri?," Todd's dad had come down the stairs and saw his wife, " Keri! It's okay."
There was silence for a few moments and Todd looked over at Kelly. He could understand, it was quite an uncomfortable situation.
" I'm okay," Todd's mom said, standing up and pushing away her sadness.
" Mom, we just saw Rob," Todd said, not knowing if it was really something he should tell her at that moment.
" You saw him? Where is he?," Todd's dad asked.
" The quarry."
But before anything else could be said, all four of them stopped for there was a desperate tapping on the back door window. Todd turned around, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Todd's parents, who knows what they were thinking at that moment. Kelly rushed to the door, her jaw dropped in disbelief, and flung the door wide open.
It was Scoot, but she was flying. She had wings.
" No time to explain," Scoot said quickly, " Rob needs our help."
**********
Please review!!!!!!!!
much luv
deke
It took Rob nearly all night to try to remember how to reach the quarry. He wished Todd was with him because he was sure that Todd would have remembered right away how to reach it. Making matters worse was the fact that the sun had set, and now he was making his way through the woods in darkness. At least there weren't any bears.
At long last, Rob noticed a clearing in the trees and made his way towards it. He stepped clear of the forest, and before him stretched the quarry. It was larger than he had remembered it being. He smiled when he saw the water - a murmur of the contentment he had felt while swimming returned to him. It was like being welcomed back home.
In spite of everything that had happened that day, he tried to feel optimistic. He knew that something would work itself out and that he would end up being okay.
Rob walked out to the ledge - the quarry was surrounded in cliffs that ranged from eighty feet to twenty feet above the water. There was only one place where the ledge actually made a beach - and the beach itself was only a hundred yards or so. The quarry itself had to be a mile wide at least.
Rob climbed down to the beach, and put his back pack on the sand. He looked around the water, but there was nobody in sight. He was utterly alone. He wished he had remembered this place when he was going through high school - it was a great place to think.
Rob shook his head, because he wasn't in the mood to think right now. He felt an incredible desire to go swimming, and he didn't want to waste any time to hinder it. He took off his shoes and his hoodie and threw them next to his back pack, and stepped into the water.
It should have felt freezing, after all it was November, but surprisingly, he couldn't feel a thing. The water had no effect on him. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him? Rob smiled, for it meant that he could go swimming that night. What a wonderful mutation! But it wasn't the time to think about it now. It was time to go swimming.
Rob jumped into the water, and joy once again swallow him. He swam under the surface of the water, and opening his eyes, he realized he could see better under the water than above it. He kicked his legs and he swam lower and lower below the surface.
He soon needed air, but he had swam far too low below the surface. Fear hit him as he wondered if he would drown, the surface was so far away. He didn't even attempt to reach it. Instinct told him what to do, and he breathed in water.
And he was fine. It was a strange feeling, and he wasn't sure how he could do it, but Rob could breath underwater. Happiness swelled within him. How much better could this get?
Now it became apparent to him just how fast he really could swim. In the wide open stretches of the quarry, he had all the space in the world. He dove deeper and deeper into the water, looking at the structure of the quarry in amazement. He could spend days under here just exploring. And he kept swimming deeper and deeper.
Rob had no idea how deep the water would get, but he could guess that it wasn't going to end any time soon. And then his stomach gave a delightful leap. He could breath under water, the temperature had no effect on him - how fortunate was he? He could not help feeling that he was the luckiest guy in the world at that moment. He was so happy, even in the face of all the terrible things that had happened to him that day, he could still take pleasure in such simple things. But no time to think about that now, there was a whole quarry left to explore!
The next day at school was nothing short at hell for Todd. Nearly everyone who passed him in the halls shot him looks for terror or hatred, kids threw things at him in class, and hardly anyone talked to him as if in fear that he'd retaliated by shooting lasers at them.
He gave up trying to stick up for his brother long ago - nobody would listen at all. So he just kept his mouth shut and dealt with it.
Dealing with his parents the night before was worse. . He had told his parents that Rob went out with Monica that night, and since the school didn't call at four, he had nearly forgotten about it. Then, at dinner, the phone rang. Todd had forgotten about it until it was too late.
He winced as he heard his mother talk on the phone, only a few lines of dialogue passed her lips as she hung up the phone.
" Who was that, honey?," Todd's dad asked, and Todd slowly slid deeper into his chair as if trying to slid under the table altogether.
" Craig, can you come here," she said, her voice obviously weak.
Todd tried to imagine he was invisible - hoping he had the mutant abilities of his brother to make people see what he wanted the to see or not see - as he heard his parents whispering in the other room. Then, the inevitable.
" Todd! Get in here." That was Todd's dad calling. Todd slowly got out of the chair and walked into the family room.
Todd did the best he could to explain what had happened when Rob came home that day. He didn't want his parents to know that he had skipped class, but the school had told them that over the phone, too. All night they sat together and heard what Todd had to say.
Just as Todd had predicted, his parents didn't feel angry at all. They were shocked and scared, but even more worried that Rob had run away. Todd kept his word and didn't reveal where Rob had gone. The night was overcast in sadness.
They asked if he wanted to take the next few days of school off. For one reason or another, Todd declined the offer. He didn't want to take Rob as an excuse to miss school, but as soon as he got to the building he knew he regretted the opportunity.
And now he had hardly made it through the first hour of school and he was ready to leave. He knew his parents wouldn't be upset if he left, and the idea was incredibly tempting. During the middle of his math class, he stood up and left the room, taking his books with him.
He didn't have to explain it to the teacher.
Todd stopped at his locker, hoping that a few days would be all that it would take for things to cool down at the school. He threw his books into his locker, and looked at the mirror that was stuck to the door. There was someone standing next to him.
Todd jumped and wheeled around, face to face with another student. Todd couldn't remember her name, but he was terribly worried about why she was there.
" Look, I know your brother is a mutant," the girl said.
" No, shit, everybody in school knows that," Todd replied.
The girl lowered her gaze. She couldn't have been older than he was.
" They don't know it, but... I'm a mutant, too."
" You are?," Todd responded. The girl didn't say anything for a while, but she had the same sense of desperation that he had seen in Rob's eyes. Todd could only guess at what they both were feeling - alone and hated in a world that rejected them.
" He ran away didn't he?," she asked.
" Uh, I guess."
" Look, why are you telling me this?," Todd asked.
" I think I can help him."
" How?"
" There's this school I've heard about - it's just for mutants." The girl lowered her voice as she said that. " It's not too far from here, I think it'd just take a few hours or so. I just didn't know, maybe he was going there."
Todd had never heard of the school, and he sure that Rob hadn't either. But he didn't know if he trusted this girl.
" What can you do?," Todd asked, his voice clearly showing that he wouldn't take her seriously if she couldn't prove to him that she was a mutant.
The girl showed Todd her open palm, and then she closed it into a fist. When she opened her hand back up, there was a tiny version of herself standing in her hand.
" Whoa!," Todd exclaimed as if it were a victory.
" Shhh!," the girl scolded.
" Sorry," Todd mumbled, and then realized he was being rude, " Sorry, what's your name?"
" Kelly," the girl replied, and then she looked down at the fairy sized girl in her hand, " Her name is Scoot."
" I'm Todd," Todd replied, " Look, I don't mean to be blunt, but I'm skipping school. Do you want to come over to my house?"
Kelly smiled and agreed.
The weather was significantly colder than the day before. The temperature plummeted down to 40 degrees, and both teens were wrapped in their winter coats. On the way to his house, Todd and Kelly talked about Rob. He told her that he was hiding out at the quarry and that they should go visit him. Todd could only imagine how happy Rob would be at hearing that there was a school for mutants that he could go to. He remembered how Rob had acted the night before - his brother was always optimistic about things, but there was a fear that he could not conceal.
Todd and Kelly made their way through the forest. Rob had been right, Todd found his way to the quarry in only half the time that it had taken Rob. They stood on the cliff side looking over the cliff.
" How are we going to find him?," Kelly asked. Scoot was sitting on Kelly's shoulder and looked over the water.
" Let's go," Todd replied and they made their way to the beach that Rob had found the night before. They carefully climbed down the sandy shore and stood there for a few moments, not really knowing what to do.
Scoot jumped down from Kelly's shoulder and walked to the water's edge. She dabbed her foot in the water.
" The temperature is cold. Fifty two degrees," Scoot replied.
" How do you know?," Todd asked.
" She can tell," Kelly replied, " She's like my own personal thermometer. But she knows all sorts of things, too. Very practical stuff like that."
But Scoot wasn't listening to them, she was peering over the water.
" Sound travels better through water than it does through air," Scoot said, " I can tell him that we are here."
" See, I told you, she knows everything," Kelly beamed as Scoot lowered her head below the water. Kelly shivered.
" Oh, I can feel the water," Kelly said, shivering more, " It is cold. How can your brother deal with it?"
" You can feel it?," Todd asked.
" Yeah, what she feels, I can feel. Oh, that's better," Kelly explained. Scoot was out of the water and was walking up to Kelly.
" He heard me," Scoot said, " He is coming."
Todd, Kelly, and Scoot were silent as they waited for Rob to appear. A minute ticked by and nothing happened. They were staring at the water directly in front of them, completely oblivious to the fact that Rob was sitting on the cliff above them, starring at them.
" Hey!," he shouted when he decided his fun was over.
The three down by the shore looked up, and Todd laughed.
" So you're red all the time now?," Todd asked. Rob looked down at his bare chest - his skin had changed red and it did not return back to normal, which greatly complimented his black hair and dark eyes.
" No, I guess not," Rob shouted back, happy to see his brother, " You're here a little early. Skipped school again?"
" Don't remind me," Todd said. Scoot suddenly tugged at Kelly.
" There are men coming," Scoot said desperately, " Police men."
Todd overheard that, and he turned to Scoot, " What do they want?"
" The news this morning!," Scoot reminded Kelly.
" Oh, god!," Kelly exclaimed, " On the news, that kid Jim, he got really badly hurt - he got hit by a car on his way to school, and they were blaming Rob. They were saying it was some kind of mutant revenge."
" Why didn't I hear anything like that?," Todd exclaimed, obviously he had been in school, but it was too late to look for answers. Todd turned back to where Rob was standing, " Rob!"
Rob looked down at Todd, " What?"
But Todd couldn't answer. Behind Rob, there were five officers charging. There wasn't even a second to say anything. Scoot hid herself in Kelly's coat.
" Robert Vincennes!," one of the officers shouted, and Rob wheeled around. Obviously he didn't expect anything like this. He didn't even move, he didn't have anytime to move. They were upon him in a matter of seconds.
The officers all tackled Rob in one single move. They pinned him onto his back, and he struggled against them as best as he could. But he was helpless. One of the officers drew a spray can of mace from his belt and sprayed Rob in the face with it. Rob screamed desperately - he couldn't do anything to stop the pain of it, the officers pinned his arms to the ground. They were trying as best as they could to flip him onto his stomach so that they could put handcuffs on him, but Rob was doing everything he could to escape.
" Todd!," Rob shouted out desperately, and one of the officers stood up and kicked him in the chest.
" Todd!," Rob shouted once again as the officers pinned him onto his stomach. They wrapped his arms behind his back, Rob was resisting them as best as he could as he shouted out to his brother, " Run home!"
Todd didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed Kelly's hand out of pure instinct and ran up the beach. Neither of them could even think of anything else to do. They ran to the forest, and only then did Todd turn to look at his brother.
Just then, all five officers burst into flames.
Todd and Kelly stood watching, absolutely helpless to do anything. They watched as the officers screamed and shouted for what seemed like an eternity.
" Oh, god," Kelly said, a hand flying to her mouth as she watched.
" They aren't - ," Scoot started, but something much more spectacular cut her off. In one moment, the officers were burning alive, the next all five were fine, not a single one of them burned. It had all been an illusion and Rob was no where to be seen.
" He went back into the water!," Scoot exclaimed.
" We have to get home," Kelly said.
" But what if he needs us?," Todd demanded.
" I'll stay here," Scoot answered, " I'll hide from the officers and I'll help Rob when I find him."
" Can you?," Kelly asked.
" Yes," Scoot replied, and she jumped down from Kelly. Kelly stood transfixed for a few moments, Todd tugging on her arm.
" Come on!," Todd said and Kelly finally turned away.
" Good bye!," Scoot called out.
Todd and Kelly ran as fast as they could. Kelly looked as if she could not bear being separated from Scoot, but they both ran. They ran and ran until finally, they both collapsed on the forest floor.
" We must be miles from that place by now," Kelly said, a hand hanging over her heart.
" Are you okay?," Todd asked.
" It's just Scoot, I..." Kelly replied, but Todd could understand, " We've never been apart for this long. It hurts."
Todd was silent as he thought about what he had just seen.
" Why did they do that?," Todd asked no one in particular.
" They're afraid of us, well, I mean mutants," Kelly answered.
" But they didn't have to be so... brutal. Why'd they spray him with mace?"
" It's supposed to be painful enough so we can't use our powers. It's just what they do," Todd glared at Kelly as though she wasn't being sympathetic enough, " Look, can you blame them for being afraid? Weren't you afraid of your brother when you found out?"
"No."
They sat in silence for a while.
" How long have you known?," Todd asked her.
" Three years," Kelly replied, " I was alone when I first made her. I never told anyone that I was a mutant. No one knew a thing. At least Scoot can come back into me and hide - that way I could keep it to myself.. I shouldn't have to do that, though."
Todd stood up. He had already regained his breath. They didn't feel the need to run anymore and they walked back to Todd's house. They took their time, partly because they were hoping that any second Rob would rejoin them. But he didn't. By the time they got home, it was about one in the afternoon. Todd's parents were already home - did they hear about what Rob was accused of?
Todd walked through the back door.
" Mom? Dad?," Todd called out. Kelly looked around the house.
" Todd?," that was his mother's voice. She walked around the corner, and couldn't compose herself anymore. She looked upon her son and burst into tears.
" Mom!," Todd cried out and they rushed to her side.
" The p-police just left," she sobbed, " Do you know what they are saying Robbie did? That he hurt Jim?"
" He didn't. I know he didn't," Todd said to reassure her, " I know him, he would never do something like that."
" I know," she sobbed, " But they didn't listen."
" Keri?," Todd's dad had come down the stairs and saw his wife, " Keri! It's okay."
There was silence for a few moments and Todd looked over at Kelly. He could understand, it was quite an uncomfortable situation.
" I'm okay," Todd's mom said, standing up and pushing away her sadness.
" Mom, we just saw Rob," Todd said, not knowing if it was really something he should tell her at that moment.
" You saw him? Where is he?," Todd's dad asked.
" The quarry."
But before anything else could be said, all four of them stopped for there was a desperate tapping on the back door window. Todd turned around, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Todd's parents, who knows what they were thinking at that moment. Kelly rushed to the door, her jaw dropped in disbelief, and flung the door wide open.
It was Scoot, but she was flying. She had wings.
" No time to explain," Scoot said quickly, " Rob needs our help."
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