Happy Easter! Back by not so popular demand, I just pounded out this chapter, completly forsaking family and chocolate just for the sake of my readers. See how much I love you guys? You know, I think a break was exactly what I needed. This was probably this best chapter, and by far the easiest to write. Never fear, Logan comes in at the end, I haven't forgotten him. And the last two sentances are kinda cryptic, so you won't get them till the end. Unless I'm being totally obvious. Tell me, I want your predictions. How does it end? Hahahahaha, you'll never guess. Well, I told Becca, but she pestered me, and it's so much fun to watch her face. Hey, you didn't come here for me, read on!

Yoda voices and birthdays

You know, Angela's pretty old. She's at least as old as Logan, who's at least as old as her creepy brother who's at least sixty, if not more, who's also younger than Angela by at least three years which makes Angela at least sixty-three. Personally I think that's kinda weird, 'cause she looks only, like, thirty-five, at most. Does that mean I'll be able to live as long as her? That's cool to think about, but I think after a while you'd get kinda bored with life. I read this one book about vampires, and it said that because they don't die naturally that after a while they don't really care if they die. I hope I don't get that old.

"Tas, pay attention!" Angela whacked me on the side of the head. "What were you doing! If I were trying to kill you it would have been all to easy."

I rubbed the bruise that was forming, but she whacked aside my hand. A little too late I remembered I was supposed to use shadows to heal all my bruises, 'cause she wasn't going to do it for me any more. "Sorry, Miss Stryker. I was just thinking about how old you are."

I guess I must have hit a chord, 'cause her glare softened instantly. "Did Scout tell you to call me that?" I nodded. "Well, my name is Angela, so you might as well use it." She paused, watching me try to heal a bruise. "What about my age?"

I gave up with the bruise. "Well, you don't age because you're a shadow traveler, right?"

"Correct, my young padawan." My favorite movie was Star Wars, and she could do the Yoda voice perfectly. She only did it when it was just her and me, which made it all the more special.

"Then won't I be ageless too?"

Angela sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. I eventually figured out that when she did that it meant she wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well, not so much ageless as just really really slow to age. You see, we do age, but the shadow realm acts sorta like a freezer. You know those glow sticks that I give Tiger during movies?" Tiger was scared of the dark, but she loved watching movies with all the teachers and students. Problem was, everyone but her like watching them in the dark. First Saturday night that Angela was there she disappeared for a couple of minutes and came back with a glow stick for Tiger. It was perfect 'cause we could watch the movie in the dark (those things don't spread light well) and Tiger had her light.

I nodded.

"You know how I keep them in the freezer? That's because they last longer that way after you snap them. Eventually they will run out of juice, but much slower. That's what the shadow realm does for us. We eventually will run out of juice, but just a lot slower."

That gave me something to think about. When I was done mulling that over for the moment I asked, "How much slower than normal people do we age?"

She squinted for a moment, trying to recall. "I think I heard it was one tenth, but I'm not sure. So I'm really ten times older than I look. Well, that's not true, because we age normally until the mutation kicks in."

"So how old are you?"

She grinned. "About seventy, give or take five years."

"You don't know?"

"I'm not quite sure. I don't know my exact birthday because I came from a really lousy orphanage, and after I left the institute I never really kept track of my age."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "After awhile it's just not important." She paused before asking her own question. "Tas, when did your mutation kick in?"

Now it was my turn to squint and try and remember. I did a pretty good job at it, which got Angela to smile. She's got a really pretty smile, and most of the time the only people who can get her to smile are Logan, Tiger, and me. "Well, not more than six months ago."

"Six months!" She looked impressed by how much I knew before she got here.

"Well, I'm a quick learner and the Professor knows a little about shadow travelers, so he taught me some."

She whistled. "When I came to the Institute I didn't know squat about being a shadow traveler."

"And now you're the best!" I piped in, maybe not so wisely.

Her face fell. "Not the best, padawan. That's Darlene."

"But you could beat her if you tried. Look at what happened last time she showed up. You beat the shit out of her."

"Watch you mouth."

"Sorry."

She was quiet for a minute. "Well, that was different. I wasn't fighting for me…"

"You were fighting for a friend." I finished. "Maybe that's what you need to beat her. Next time you fight her just think about what good you'll be doing for everybody."

She sighed. "I wish it were that easy, Tas, I really do."

She got up and left, muttering something about being done for the day. I stayed put, and about five minutes later Logan came barreling outside. He pause and did that weird little sniffing thing he does. He must have smelled me, because he came and sat next to me on the bench without seeming to notice I was there.

Eventually he asked, "So, what were you and Blue talking about?"

I looked up, but he was still staring straight ahead. "Who?"

"Angela."

"Oh, her." I ran my hand through my hair, a trait of her that rubbed of and still sticks with me to this day. "We were talking about birthdays."

He chuckled. "You should know better than to ask a woman about her age."

"She's seventy, give or take five years."

Logan whistled. He grinned wolfishly, and finally looked at me. "Well, I always have like older women."

That was a thought I didn't want to explore. "She probably knows your age."

That shut him up, but not for long. "You know kiddo, I don't really care."

"I'm not a kiddo," I muttered, not really in a mood to talk.

"Suit yourself."

"Maybe I will"

But I didn't. I'm a very social person. And if Angela taught me anything, it was keep friends close. Screw your enemies, as long as you got your friends your fine. At least, that was her policy, and look where she got landed. Must be really empty up there.

Wow, I haven't up dated in forever. So review, or I'll never update agian! BWAHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA