This chaptermight be a little weird cuz you get to see what Janna's mother is like. I made her like a typical Disney step-mother so, uh, don't be too shocked if she does something to hurt Janna.
Later, Jim, Janna, Sarah, and Leland sat at a table eating lunch. Janna took a bite of her soup and made a face. "Um, who made this?"
"I did!" B.E.N. piped up from the kitchen. "Do you like it?"
"Uh, yeah sure. It's very...interesting." 'It tastes like melted boot plastic drenched in pond scum,' she thought, 'smells like it too.' She pushed her bowl away. "I'm done."
Jim grinned at her. "What'd it taste like?"
"You don't wanna know," she whispered. "I think he put too much Boonta-spice in it."
Jim laughed. "I can imagine what that tasted like!" He got up from the table. "Well, I'm finished. Hey, Janna, since you're stuck here for a while do you wanna play a game?"
Janna shrugged. "I dunno. What games do you have?"
Jim smiled. "All sorts. C'mon, I'll show you."
They went into the next room and Leland turned to Sarah. "How long has Jim known her?" Sarah frowned. "Quite a while. I think they met when they were like three. Why?"
"Didn't you see the way he was looking at her during lunch? I think he likes her."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "I take it you didn't glance at her during the meal. She was looking at him the same way."
"Huh. How old is Jim now anyway?"
"Eighteen. After you left he went pretty much downhill. You know that he built that solar-surfer, right"
"How could I forget. He finished it the day before I left."
"Well, by the time he was fifteen he had it confiscated by the police for getting into trouble on it. He was just one mistake away from going to prison whan he got that treasure map. After he came home from that voyage...he was completely changed! He helped rebuild this place and entered the Interstellar Academy. He never told me what happened to him on that voyage, until this afternoon."
Leland smiled and put his arm around his wife and whispered, "I love you, Sarah. I'm so sorry I left you."
She leaned her head against him and sighed. "I love you too, Leland. And its alright."
Meanwhile, Jim was showing Janna all the games that they had. They finally decided on a game of "reverse charades". After they were finished they sat down and rested.
"That was fun!" Jim exclaimed.
"Yeah. So now what do you wanna do?" Jim smiled. "I know. I'll be right back." He ran up the stairs to his room and picked up a golden sphere that was sitting on a shelf. When he came back down he saw Janna talking to a cross-looking woman. He started to go in, but stopped short when he heard the woman say, "Your father is very worried about you, Janna. You're coming home with me!"
"No way!" Janna shouted.
The woman stood up, walked over to Janna, and slapped the teenager across her face. "Yes you are, you little brat. Don't you dare talk to me like that again."
Jim, seeing this ran into the room and shoved the woman away from Janna. "Stop it! Leave her alone!"
The woman snatched her arm away from Jim and snapped, "Stay out of this, kid. Its between me and my step-daughter!"
Janna's face paled. "Step-daughter?!" she whispered.
The woman smirked. "Thats right, Janna. Your father married me after your and Jacob's mother died."
Janna stood up and glared at her step-mother."You know what, Maryana, I never really thought of you as my real mother. You could never do this!" She placed her hand against the wall and pushed gently. Her hand disappeared through the wall and her stepmother gasped. "Janna Silver, I told you never to do that!"
Janna smiled sweetly. "I know you did. Thats why I just did it. But now I know why you didn't want me to. You didn't want me to find out that my real mother was a Tangean." She pulled her and away from the wall and scowled. "Now I know why you hate me. And why you hated Jacob so much. Because we weren't your children and that we're half-alien."
Maryana smiled cruelly. "Thats right, Janna. I hate you and Jacob. Your father doesn't even care about you anymore. By the way, I don't think Jacob's accident was really an accident. He wasn't a good kid anyway"
Janna's eyes filled with tears. "Don't talk about Jacob that way!"
"Why not, you little idiot?"
"Because he was my brother and I loved him."
"So?"
"So, I want you to leave me alone and never come back!"
Maryana stared at Janna for a minute, speechless. Then she found her voice. "Fine! I will, you stupid little girl. But don't blame me if you father get angry." She turned and stalked out of the room.
Janna sank into a chair and bagan crying.
Jim came over and put his arms around her. He held her for a few moments then she slowly sat back. "Thanks, Jim. I needed that."
He frowned and asked, "Is that what she's really like"?
"Yep. All the time."
"Man. I understand why you left."
"Yeah. But I just wish she hadn't talked about Jacob like she did. He was actually the one that taught me how to solar-surf. He even helped me build it."
Jim smiled sadly. "Well, at least she's gone now. Heres what I wanted to show you." He handed her the sphere. She looked at it, puzzled. "What is it?"
"Open it and see."
Janna frowned, pushed a few buttons and spun a dial on it. Suddenly a bright green light shot out of it and images of planets and stars filled the room. She looked over at Jim who had a grin on his face. "Touch one of the planets, Janna!"
She stood up, looked around fo a minute, then touched Montressor. Instantly the images started flying past. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. Slowly they stopped at a green, two-ringed planet. "Treasure Planet!" she whispered.
She turned to Jim and smiled. "Thanks, Jim. Uh...how do you turn this thing off?"
He smiled, reached over, and pushed a button on it. The images flew back into the sphere and it clicked shut.
"Let me guess: that was the Treasure Planet map"
"Yeah...how'd you know"
Janna grabbed a pillow from the chair and threw it at him. "Well, duh, I don't think there are any other two-ringed treasure worlds like that!"
Jim grinned. "Yeah, you're right. It's the Treasure Planet map."
She frowned. "How'd you get it? I thought you said the portal was destroyed."
"Well, I kinda grabbed it as I went through the portal." He picked up the pillow and threw it back at her.
"Ow!" She threw it back at him and soon a pillow fight was raging in the room.
"Take that, Hawkins!"
"Right back at ya, Silver!"
"Ouch!"
"Hey!"
Suddenly Sarah came into the room and they stopped fighting instantly. "Janna, your grandfather's here to pick you up"
Janna stood up and sighed, "Okay. Here, Jim, this is yours."
She tried to hand him the map but he shook his head. "You can have it, Janna. That way you can see Treasure Planet whenever you want even thought its not there anymore."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
She smiled. "Thanks, Jim. I'll take care of it. See you tomorrow!"
"Sure. I'll meet you at The Spyglass tomorrow morning. It should be a better day forsolar-surfingthan today was"
"Okay. Bye, Jim!"
"See ya later, Janna," he whispered as he watched her walk out after Sarah.