Chapter Three: New Activity

A pond:

Nita was talking amiably to the green algae that had been overtaking the local pool and had now spread into other water sources. 'This is getting out of control, guys.'

'Hey, don't go blaming us. It's not as if we did anything.' It replied somewhat defensively. Nita could almost imagine it throwing its 'hands' into the air.

Nita frowned at the algae. She didn't see how it could possibly be anyone else's fault. 'What do you mean? You're the ones overpopulating, not anything else.'

A sigh escaped the algae. 'Don't you know anything?'

Nita scowled angrily at the algae and breathed in several times to calm herself down. 'What do you mean?'

'This isn't just a problem here, as in right here, or even just here as in this planet. This is a problem realmwide.'

Nita clapped a hand to her forehead and groaned. So this had something to do with her job. And it was a much bigger problem than had been anticipated.

'Realmwide? And how am I supposed to fix it, huh?' she asked.

The algae's voice took on a grim tone. 'It's the Immortal Realm and the Mortal Realm.'

'What do you mean?' Nita asked curiously. She wondered fleetingly how long it was going to take for them to reach some kind of conclusion.

Nita could have sworn that the algae rolled its nonexistent eyes. 'There's been a breach in the barrier.'

Nita glowered darkly. 'So I suppose that's my job. How exactly am I supposed to fix the barrier, tell me?'

The algae paused and didn't answer for a second. 'I don't know.'

'Great. Just great.' Nita huffed irately.

Nita's Bedroom:

Nita tried the handle on her door one last time, and, assured that it was locked, flopped herself onto her bed. Pulling the manual out of other space, she examined her status for a moment before flipping to another page. "Immortal Realms," she muttered. "Bingo."

Tucking a tendril of loose hair behind her ears, she drew her knees up to her chest to read.

Tears prickled in her eyes as she continued to read, discovering that it was impossible for a mortal to enter the Immortal Realms and return. Powers, however, could come and go as they pleased.

She threw the book on her bedside table and crawled fully clothed into her bed and cried herself to sleep.

When Nita awoke, she blinked several times and wiped the sleep from her eyes, sitting up. Spotting her manual, she noticed that there was an unopened message. Sighing, she flipped it open. Not recognising the sender, she frowned in confusion. She opened it with trepidation, and knitted her brows at the message. 'Do you even know why or how?'

A name escaped her lips while she sat frowning over it. "Dehmit,"

Then she looked around and wrinkled her lips in confusion. "Who is Dehmit? Why did I think that? And most of all, what the Powers does it mean?"

A thought struck her suddenly and she clutched the manual in her hands, before Transiting to the moon and beginning to read.

A smile slowly appeared on her face as her plan formulated in her mind.

Kit's Bedroom:

Kit frowned at Nita with concern. "Pareja, are you sure that'll work?"

Nita nodded and gave a tinkling laugh. "Of course it will, Kit. I've been researching all week."

Kit smiled weakly at her. "You'll be okay? Really?" He asked again.

"Of course, silly," she smiled. "I know what I'm doing. Now, hand it over."

Kit pulled her into a tight hug, and hesitantly pecked her forehead. Blushing, he ripped a few hairs from his head, and Nita stuffed them in her jeans.

Checking that she had everything she needed, she started chanting in the speech and transited away.

Immortal Realms:

Nita was greeted by something that she did not expect. There was a regal looking power holding a staff with a clock held in it. "Juanita Callahan," it boomed.

Nita stepped back tentatively and covered her ears with her hands. "YOU'RE TOO LOUD!" she shouted.

The power nodded, and spoke in a slightly softer voice. "Sorry. I am Kronos, I rule over time, and am thus the most powerful of us all."

Nita cringed. He was still rather loud. "Um, how exactly does that make you the most powerful?" she enquired, wondering what on earth was happening.

"Well, I could reverse time and you could never be born," Kronos fingered the dial on the clock and spun it slightly.

"Um, how exactly does that make you the most powerful?"

"See?" Kronos replied imperiously. Nita looked at him confusedly.

Kronos waved a hand majestically. "Be seated."

Nita straightened her shirt and stood up straight before sitting stiffly into a chair that Kronos had made appear from thin air.

Kronos rattled off a list of details about Nita and her life in an unfeeling manner. "Right?" he finished, examining her through his glasses.

Nita nodded formally. "Um, Sir, uh, Kronos, uh, what should I call you?"

"Kronos is fine."

"Kronos, the breach between the barrier…"

Kronos cut her off with another wave of his hand and a gesture at his staff. "Nothing Tresantès can't fix. And, beyond that, nothing this can't fix."

Nita looked at him in befuddlement. "Sorry?" she asked, shocked. "You mean to say that I came up here for no reason at all?"

Kronos shook his head. "No, that won't do." He spun the dial on his staff.

"Kronos, the breach between the barrier…" Nita began and Kronos smiled, settling into his chair.

"Ah, I should have known you would have asked about that, Nita."

"How do you expect me to fix it? All the manual said was that it had to be someone with a Mortal body and they had to be on the Immortal side."

Kronos nodded understandingly. "Nita, I'm afraid there is no easy way to break this to you."

Nita stared at him, her eyes wide with fear. "What is it?" she whispered.

"You have been lied to your whole life about who – about what you are." Kronos informed her.

Nita leant forward in her chair.

Revised: January 2006