Chapter 11
Hello!
Adain was being shaken. Hard. She opened her eyes slightly to see Yumi leaning over her, whispering, "Come on! Wake up! You're gonna miss it!"
"What am I gonna miss?" Adain asked groggily, trying to clear her vision buy blinking a lot.
"The fight! Ulrich and Odd are sparring in the park where we play Fan Toss! I can't wait! So are you coming?"
"Yeah. One second." Adain slipped out of bed, letting the covers fall to the ground, and pulling on faded jeans and a black cami. "I'll be right there. Go ahead."
Once Yumi left the room, Adain brushed and did her hair, letting it fall across her shoulders and back. Applying black eyeliner below her lower eyelashes wasn't hard, even in the dark. Something told her that she would meet up with an old friend that she would want to look her best for.
Odd crouched, expecting Ulrich to jump out of his hiding place in the trees any minute. What he didn't expect was the small voice inside his head to get louder and then say, "Odd, move!"
Obeying what he thought was his conscious, Odd flipped forward, just missing being landed on by Ulrich. Balancing himself on his left hand, Odd put his legs together and kicked Ulrich for all he was worth. Then, keeping himself on his left hand, separated his legs and swung them around, using the momentum to stand himself up. The rules were, first one who's butt hits the ground looses, so he didn't let his butt touch the ground.
Ulrich was also hearing voices, or a voice. The weird voice told him to jump just before Odd had done that kick that would have made him lose for sure. Doing his famous soccer kick, Ulrich's foot connected solidly with Odd's head, sending him flying towards a fairly large tree. Just before Odd's doom, a wall of silvery light appeared in front of him. Odd bounced off it and landed softly on his back, mumbling, "I lose."
Adain was surprised to hear that the boys had both heard a voice inside their heads, telling them what to do. She had thought those things. Was her telepathy being evil again? Connecting with others minds without her say-so. Just the thought of it was slightly unnerving.
They were sitting in the grass in the park. It was right after the boys' fight, and they were talking about what had happened.
"Hey, Yumi?"
"Yeah?"
"Wanna take a whack at it?" Adain was grinning evilly.
"Sure. Same rules, only no magic or flying."
"You never let me have any fun." Adain pretended to pout but agreed to the terms. As the girls stretched, Ulrich and Odd admired Odd's bruised head. As they approached a tender spot, Adain looked at them and sent a thought down the mental cord that she had with all of them. 'Don't even go there.'
They looked up to see who had 'spoken'. Seeing Adain watching them, they gave her confused looks. She just smiled at their inability to understand. Adain and Yumi took their places.
The instant the countdown hit GO! Adain jumped. Landing on a branch somewhere above the wary Yumi, Adain glided through the leaves. Waiting for the perfect moment, Adain let her feet leave the branch and lightly hit the ground behind the girl. When Yumi turned, Adain turned, always staying behind Yumi. She let Yumi fret over the boys snickers and her own utter confusion. Where was Adain?
She flipped out of the way of the flurry of punches aimed at her head and neck. Adain did a handstand, then spun around and around, her legs in a splits position, whacking Yumi in the face several times in a row, and then back hand-springing onto her feet. She heard Ulrich say that they might as well be at a gymnastics/break dancing competition, for all the stuff they get to see here.
Adain and Yumi went into close quarters fist fighting. Punching and blocking, punching and blocking. Once, Adain tried a sweep on Yumi, swinging her leg around Yumi's and making the poor girl do a no handed cartwheel. And then it happened.
Blue fire shot between them holding the girls away from each other. Yumi was frantically squirming, trying to get out of the hold that was on her. Adain just stood in shock as a familiar male voice sounded next to her ear.
"What is going on here? We can't have two little girls here fighting, and two perfectly capable boys just sitting and watching! This is a scandal!"
Adain smiled and waited for Snake to recognize her. She had expected him to show up sooner or later. He had obviously heard her mental screaming at him. As Snake took down the barrier, Adain walked up to him and asked, "What's my Aunt's name?"
This was there little code for whenever one didn't recognize the other.
Snake's eyes widened and said the counter code, "Mrs. Hopping Fuzzy Butts, from Uranus." At which both burst out laughing.
Snake pulled Adain into a hug. They hadn't seen each other for over two months, which might not be the record, but Adain was glad it wasn't. (The record was a year and six weeks, in which Adain had gone entirely insane and was thinking about throwing herself down a very deep well.)
"Adain, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you left. I had no choice."
He was misreading her thoughts. That wasn't the problem.
"I just wanna know what you were doing all that time."
"You know I can't tell you that."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Yumi had realized at last who that guy was, and herded up staring Odds and Ulrichs, hauling them back to their dorm door.
"Who was that guy?" Ulrich was still thinking about that blue wall, sort of like Adain's, only blue.
"His name is Snake, from what I hear from Adain." Was Yumi's reply. "He's Adain's best friend."
"No wonder she's such a tomboy." Odd murmured.