Chapter 6

Return To Earth

Myra worked her way from the stables down the face of Kolvir. It was true she could've had the pattern send her anywhere, but she wanted to do things the hard way. That's why she chose to go to the stables and borrow a horse. Now she could practice shadow shifting.

She stretched her awareness and willed the land around her to change. A large stone on the path. A single falling leaf, glinting silver in the moonlight. A patch of blackberry bushes to the right. Some blue flowers beside them, barely visible. More rocks. A warm evening breeze. Smaller trees now. More moonlight. Yes! She was able to do it.

Now she dug her mental hooks into her surroundings and prepared for a faster change. Soon she was passing through worlds in a matter of seconds. The evening progressed quickly to early morning. Now she rode through a field of paper flowers under a purple sky. A shadow away the metal grass glinted with apathy and reached for their legs. The trees also seemed to grab for anything that came near.

The sky was Gray and brightening to yellow. Another sun rose, blue this one, and heat beat down on her. Trade it for mountains instead. Sky shifting gradually now back to blue. Soon she worked her way back to more normal territory, and the shadow, Earth. Now she traveled on an asphalt road in Wyoming and made her way to see an old friend of hers, Dr. Daniel Jackson. He was Nicole's boyfriend and, for all she knew, the last one to have seen her.

It was early evening, just after sunset, when she arrived at his house. There were two cars in the driveway and a light was on in an upstairs window. Someone was obviously there so she dismounted and tied her horse, Rockie, to a tree. She strode across the lawn to the door, knocked and waited. She never was very good at the waiting though.

When the door wasn't answered within a few seconds she began pounding and shouted"Damn it, Daniel! Open up! It's Myra"

When no immediate answer came she continued"If you don't answer right now I'm breaking down this door"

Oddly enough, the door was jerked open abruptly. However, instead of Daniel a strange man with gray hair stood before her. The strange thing about him was the fact that he seemed too young to have gray hair. He appraised her with curiosity.

"My, aren't we impatient" he commented.

"Who the HELL are you? Where's Daniel? Get out of the way, I need to talk to him NOW" Myra replied, regretting her rudeness only slightly.

"I'm Jack. Daniel's upstairs. He heard you shouting and told me to let you in. That's awfully nice of him if you ask me. If you showed up to my house like that I'd..." Jack said, but Myra interrupted with a growl,

"Yeah, fine. Just take me to him." Jack growled back in response, but nevertheless he let her in.

He escorted her up the stairs and down the hall to the last room on the right. It seemed to be the study. There, in a comfortable arm chair, wearing only his bath robe, sat Daniel. His sandy hair was unkempt and he sported a scraggly beard. His blue eyes, behind dirty glasses were watery and bloodshot. In his hand he held a glass of whiskey, the near empty bottle stood on the table to his left.

"Where is she" Myra asked immediately upon seeing him.

"Well hello to you too, Myra" came his soft reply.

"I asked you a question, Daniel. I don't have time for pleasantries. Tell me where Nicole is" She was so angered at his apparent apathy that she was ready to forget their long friendship. However, she didn't notice that her appearance was changing to match her mood. Daniel dropped his glass and Jack backed away slightly. They stared in shock as her skin became a pale blue hue and her eyes black flames. She grew silver claws and fangs also.

"What the hell are you" Jack asked in disgusted awe.

"What" Myra queried, her voice remained unchanged. Her anger was briefly stifled by their peculiar behavior. As she relaxed, her features began melting back to normal. Jack indicated a mirror on the wall by the door. By the time she got there she saw nothing strange. She turned back towards Jack and quirked an eyebrow.

"Um...what was that you just did" Daniel asked.

"What? I didn't do anything more than think of how I may have to torture some answers out of you" Myra replied sweetly"But seeing as we are friends why don't you just tell me where Nikki is"

The guys exchanged worried glances. Then"What's it to you" Jack sneered.

Myra shot him a death glare and growled"She's family"

"Family" Jack retorted"You weren't even at the funeral. I wouldn't even think you were her friend"

"Funeral" Myra asked, stunned.

"You mean you didn't know" Daniel asked"I left tons of messages and even a letter."

"I've been out of town for a while" Myra stated dryly.

"Well, the thing is... Nicole really is dead" Daniel said, sounding half dead himself.

"You've got to be kidding me" Myra said"First you have her making excuses for you at the reunion and now she's dead. I must've missed something. It's just not possible."

"Well, it only happened about a month ago. We were..." Daniel began in the same dead tone.

"Daniel, you CAN'T" came Jack's warning interruption.

"Jack, we have to tell her. She says she's family, and even if she isn't, she is my friend. She has the right to know. She should hear the truth, not some made-up story meant for the papers."

"Even so, you can't tell her anything without clearance from Hammond first."

"You're right" Daniel sighed. He got up and walked over to the mirror. He stared at his scruffy reflection, then, rubbing his bearded chin said"Maybe I should get cleaned up first."

With that he left Jack and Myra alone in the study.

"So, where do you know Danny-boy from anyway" Jack asked, trying to make conversation.

"We went to college together. We were both pretty young and we had a lot of the same classes. I'm actually the one that introduced him to Nicole."

"I always wondered how a chick like that would even want to talk with him." Jack laughed, Myra did too.

"Yeah, it's a pretty strange combination" Myra replied. Then after a moment"You know, I'm really kinda sorry for barging in like this, if she's really dead. It's just that I got worried when she couldn't be found."

"Hey, that's alright. I'm sure he'll get over the shock" Jack replied." Hey, look on the bright side. You were able to get him moving again. It took me two whole weeks to make him get his own booze." After a few more laughs they went downstairs and made breakfast, being sure to dump coffee down Daniel's throat. It got him sober, but they had to wait for him to take another shower. The sky outside began to lighten as they waited.

"You guys ready to go" Daniel finally called from the front of the house"We can all take my car, that is if Jack... What the HELL is a horse doing tied to my tree" Myra and Jack ran to where he stood, just outside the front door. Jack immediately joined him staring at Rockie in disbelief. Rockie was munching nonchalantly on a nearby bush.

"Wow. That's a nice horse" Jack said.

"Yeah, his name's Rockie" Myra replied. "I'll just go take care of him, then we can leave."

"Do hurry" Daniel said"I'd prefer my lawn to remain intact." Myra walked over to Rockie and pulled out Julian's trump. She knew he wouldn't mind looking after the beast. After a brief conversation, explaining only the essentials, Rockie was gone.

"How'd you do that" Jack asked in awe.

"Oh, I just called a friend, well a relative actually" Myra said casually. They just stared at her for a moment, then shaking their heads, got into Daniel's car. Jack pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

"General, we have an issue" He said.


Thanks to Florin for the review. I know Chapter 5 was weak and I was dissapointed in it myself. I originally had Jade make a big scene, but the preson Jade is based off of asked me to change it. Thought it was slightly out-of -character. Anyway, I hope you like this one better.