Chapter Three:

Hot Showers and Butterscotch

Walnut Grove, Missouri

Unfortunately for Emma, Jimmy did not forget about the training he scheduled for her. With in thirty minutes of leaving to drop Layla off, he was back at the house jumping on Emma's bed to get her to wake up. She began by throwing a pillow hard enough to knock Jimmy off of the bed and into the wall.

Two hours later the twins were in the basement. They had spent the majority of the time with Jimmy hurling various objects at Emma and her either ducking or deflecting them.

"This is stupid!" Emma complained as she kicked an apple back towards Jimmy. "It was one Pul'lar demon. And he wasn't throwing apples at me! He was throwing you! Now, I would be more than happy to kick you if you want to hurl yourself towards me. Besides, I did my job right? I chopped him up into tiny little Pul'lar pieces. By the way, don't make any corned beef for a while." Emma shuttered at the memory of dismembering the pig-like demon. "And I don't see why you're all of the sudden wanting to be the Burgess Meredith to my Sylvester Stallone. You never pushed my training before?"

Jimmy picked up a hammer and hurled it straight for Emma' face. She stepped to the side and caught it with her right hand just in time. She tossed it in the air, watched it spin and then caught it in her left hand behind her where she used it as a backscratcher.

"This sports bra is killing me. I feel like I can hardly breathe! And it makes my boobs all sweaty!" Emma pulled at the grey sports bra and wiped at the sweat glistening on her chest and bare abdomen. She tossed the hammer back to Jimmy and wiped the palms of her hands onto her grey yoga pants.

"That's why you don't date! You're not very lady like you know!" Jimmy instructed as he caught the hammer effortlessly. Apparently he had been honing the reflex abilities he shared with his twin.

"I'm only like that around you! Like you really care!" Emma tightened her sloppy pony tail and waved for Jimmy to continue.

"Yeah, well, maybe if I saw you actually around other people than I could make that comparison." He picked up several knives and began tossing them at her from all angles. She caught one in each hand at the same time, jumped up for a toe touch to escape two more and then a back flip to miss the last. When she stood back up, she shot the two in her hands back towards her brother who retrieved them from air without endeavor.

"I'm around other people!"

Jimmy turned to put the knives away on the peg board. "When? When you're out at night hunting bad guys, or when you're at the grocery store? Oh wait a minute, you don't do any errands! So that leaves the night times hunts. That's not a social life!" Jimmy pulled a nine millimeter Beretta from a locked drawer and loaded a clip. He showed the gun to Emma who nodded in acknowledgment and prepared herself.

"Just because I don't tell you about it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist!" Emma defended.

"Emma, the only place a social life of yours exists is in your head! Creepy twin sonar remember!" Jimmy raised the gun at his sister and focused his aim. He began to fire just as Layla arrived home and came down the stairs.

"NO JIMMY NO! I KNOW SHE'S NOT VERY BRIGHT BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL HER!" Layla squealed as she came off of the stairs.

Jimmy had emptied the clip as Layla finished her urgent protest. Of course Emma had dodged each bullet with ease and grace. The twins stopped and looked at Layla with complete confusion.

"Oh, this is a part of the reflex training isn't it!" Layla realized.

"And you call me stupid." Emma rolled her eyes and turned to stretch.

"How was your appointment? What was it exactly?" Jimmy asked just realizing he really had no clue why she needed to be at the Grove Café.

Layla played with her fingertips and did her best to hide her discomfort. She walked over and retrieved a knife from the wall as she searched for her explanation.

"Oh, it was fine. Aces really. Just an old mate from back home was in the area and wanted to catch up." Layla continued over to the next wall and pulled the knife from it as well. "It wasn't exactly lying, really," She told herself, "it's partly true."

"Really! Why didn't you say so? I would love to meet one of your friends from England! Why don't you give them a call and invite them over for dinner?" Jimmy suggested as he carefully packed the gun away under lock and key.

Emma took the opportunity to duck away and grab a hacky sack and start bouncing it on her knee.

Layla turned and shuffled towards Jimmy. "Of he was only in town for the day. You know, passing through? He's already on his way to St. Louis to catch his flight out."

Jimmy squinted for a moment trying to comprehend. "Why would ANYONE, especially someone from another country, be 'passing through' Walnut Grove?"

Layla opened her mouth to answer but couldn't find a suitable one to give that wouldn't have given the true meaning for the visit away. She quickly remembered they were talking when she arrived. She shook her head in mock embarrassment and diverted the attention away from herself. "I'm sorry! I have once again been a total cock up and interrupted your conversation! I can tell you all about my luncheon later love; you finish whatever you were talking about first!"

Jimmy was about to insist that Layla continue when he noticed his sister balancing the hacky sack on the top of her left foot.

"Emma, what are you doing?"

"Training. What does it look like?" She answered without looking up.

"That's not training. That's playing. If your training than the skater kids down the block would make way better slayers than you." Jimmy teased.

"Whatever. This takes skill my brother. Concentration, balance and good reflexes." With that she launched the "8 ball" decorated hacky sack into the air. When it came back down, she kicked it with her opposite leg and sent it sailing across the basement and smack into Jimmy's face.

"OW!" Jimmy growled as he held his face. "You see! It's that right there!"

"What are you talking about? I was aiming!" Emma laughed. "Hey, you shot at me and I can't kick a hacky sack at you! That's not very fair Quick Draw!"

"No! It's that crap right there why you don't have a social life! You hide in this house Emma! You haven't accepted or dealt with anything yet! You've just masked it! That's why you hide here, so you don't have to face anyone. So you don't have to face yourself!"

The basement became completely silent. For a moment, a glimmer of hurt shown through on Emma's face as she took all of what Jimmy had thrown at her this time. Jimmy nursed his reddened cheek and continued to look at his sister. He meant what he said; he just wished it wouldn't have come out so aggressively.

"How's that for reflex training?" Layla broke the uncomfortable silence with her usual inappropriate crass humor.

"Shut up Layla." Emma spat.

"Well, he's right! You do hide in here! And you're a woman… kinda. You have needs! Go out there and fill them! What are you afraid of?"

Emma couldn't deny that Layla had actually made sense. She did that from time to time. But she wasn't about to saddle them with her personal issues.

"Look, guys, I'm fine ok. I'm fine with my life right now. I'm happy with me! When I need other people I'll watch TV." After finishing her statement Emma jogged up the stairs and out of sight.

Jimmy sighed and threw the hacky sack down onto the stainless steal counter top. He feared for his sister. She had been living in this self imposed exile since before Layla had arrived really. She just hadn't been so extensive. In the last several months so had cut her self off more and more from the outside world. He was afraid she was going to become some crazy hermit lady that the kids made up legends about and had a thousand cats with matted fur crawling in and out of her windows.

He felt guilty that he had someone to snuggle up to at night and Emma only had tired old bedding that she rarely washed. He wanted his sister to be happy. But, he didn't know how to help her. He knew that he couldn't understand what she was going through. They had discussed that before. The torment she suffered listening to their family die and the constant physical reminder that she wasn't like everyone else. He thought that she had made peace with that last year. Maybe he was wrong? Maybe old wounds were reopening? Or maybe it's something he will never figure. There are no numbers, no calculations or formulae that can heal those hurts. But, if there were, Jimmy would have found it, patented it and made her the queen of day-time self help TV.

Layla walked over to Jimmy and put her arm around him. She could feel his anguish coming off of him in waves.

"You have to realize James that she really is in mourning. She never allowed her self to mourn for, well, herself. I would imagine that losing a piece of your body would in many respects be like losing a loved one. Because in every sense of it, once that happened to her, the old Emma died. She lost herself. She mourned for your family and dealt with it. I think she's just going through the stages of losing herself and trying to find out who it is exactly that she is supposed to be now."
Jimmy considered her words deeply and patted her hand. What she had said did make a sort of sense. "You're pretty smart you know?"

"Layla Fellows, beautiful and brilliant at your service!" She winked and he kissed her cheek.

"But, I thought she had already dealt with it. She said that she had that whole vision thing with the Sentinel that put things into perspective."

"Have you heard of the five stages of dying?" Layla walked behind him and lead him to sit down on the stool while she rubbed his shoulders.

"Of course I have. We had to go through a years worth of grief counseling after the deaths. Let's see, there's, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and then acceptance."

"Yes. Emma lost that person that she was. That woman she was going to be will never be. That is something far more powerful that losing someone else. I don't care how close you were with that person. It's nothing compared to what losing yourself must be like. The point is, when a person close to you dies, no matter how much you accept it, you're still going to miss them. It's still going to hurt not having them around anymore and knowing that they are going to miss all of those great things that are going to happen in your life and vice versa. Imagine what that must be like for someone who, every morning, sees that person they lost in the mirror, hears that person speak, laugh, cry, and feels their heart break everytime when they realize it's not really that person, just a shadow. She must go through those stages everyday, and maybe that's why she hasn't attempted to build a social life. It's hard enough just getting out of bed."

Jimmy fought against the tears that threatened to burst from their ducts. He had never thought of it that way. Emma had a talent for putting up walls to hide her more unsavory of thoughts and feelings. He knew that she was more concerned with keeping him more concerned with his own life and relationship. But, there was nothing she could do to stop him from worrying. She was his sister after all and they were the only family each other had in the entire world as blood goes.

Emma turned the water in the shower on as hot as she could stand. She always seemed to be able to clear her mind best while in the shower. And she felt that a conversation with her self was long over due. Jimmy never spoke to her that way. Not even when they were little kids. Sure they fought like very other sibling on the planet, but it was far from Jimmy's character to tell Emma what to do with her life. He was worried about her and it was showing. Which meant she was acting in a way to cause worry and that was the last thing she wanted.

She stepped into the steaming shower and propped her prosthetic up nearby outside of the shower. The water was invigorating. The steam opened her sinuses and it felt like it would if you were breathing for the very first time. She watched the beads of water drip down her curves and then watched as the steam rose from her skin. She turned and allowed the hot water to massage her shoulders. "They're right you know." She thought to herself. "You have been hiding. But why? You know you're lonely. You know you missed be touched; being kissed. Why won't you let yourself go out and find it?" Before she could put the shampoo on her hair, she had answered her questions. "Because I'm scared. I'm scared that I was right. That no one would want someone like me. That is they did I would be worried if they had some kind of amputee fetish or something. The world is full of messed up people and I should know. All I want is to be loved. I just want someone to love me!" She realized that she had been crying. She had tried so hard to block out the more feminine of emotions to keep her self on task. But, it had only made them more powerful and now she was afraid that she was becoming scared and desperate. "I'm empty. I have run myself down to empty! Who wants someone who has nothing left to give? I'm going to be seventy years old translating Stephan King book into Klingonese with my geeky twin brother who gets more action than I do!" The last thought had made her chuckle slightly out loud.

"I guess that settles it. Today I crawl out of my hole and re-introduce myself to the world." Satisfied with her talk with herself, she rinsed the soap from her hair and body and reached through the shower curtains for a towel. When her fingers discovered that she had once again forgotten it she cursed herself out loud. With out a towel she couldn't dry her stub off to put her leg back on and with out her leg she couldn't make it over the side of the tub without busting her ass. She pulled the shower curtain back just enough to poke her head out to yell for someone to bring her a towel. When she looked up, she screamed and almost fell backwards. Layla was already standing there holding a towel.

"Holy shit! What the hell are you doing in here! You nearly scared me to death!" Emma stammered gripping the curtain around her body.

"Sorry, then I'll just go then and take this big, fluffy, fresh from the dryer towel with me!" Layla started to turn but Emma stopped her and grabbed the towel from her arms.

"Wait, thank you." She quickly ducked back behind the curtain and dried off her stub so she could put her leg on. "I though we all agreed that you needed to conserve your energy for your creepy powers for when we really need it and also, it's just rude pokin' around in other peoples' brains. But thanks just the same." Emma wrapped the towel around her body and finally stepped out of the shower risk free.

"I wasn't poking around in your brain. I used my amazing powers of probability.

Nine times out of ten you forget to take a towel and instead of using your ability to hop, you stand in there and squeal for one of us to bring you one."

"Well, thanks. Why are you still standing there?" Emma was beginning to feel uncomfortable with standing in the bathroom in nothing but a towel alone with her brother's girlfriend.

Layla rolled her eyes and huffed. "I came to tell you that I was sorry for calling you stupid. But you are though, you know, stupid."

Emma looked around her searching for a way to make sense of Layla's quasi apology. "Um, thank you?"

"Look, I know your going through things here. All that business that happened last year changed us all. And your life was already wonky to begin with so I can imagine that your gourd is a bit knackered." Layla paused to think of how to put her next thoughts. It was evident that she was never very good at putting things gently.

"You know after living with you for a year, you are actually starting to make LESS sense then when I first met you." Emma revealed.

Layla rolled her eyes again sighed exhaustedly. "Bleeding Nora, I'm trying to be helpful here!"

"Fine, sorry, please continue preaching and jabbering on in a complete non-sense vernacular." Emma sighed and waited for Layla.

"Well, looky there, the muscle broke out the big girl words! Anyway, we know that you are dealing with the whole, 'this isn't what my life was supposed to be' thing. And we understand. And, I'm not one to push…"

"Oh no, 'course not. Just wouldn't be you."

"Right, but your brother is worried that you're going to become a crazy cat lady who eats nothing but icing and screams at the paper boy. And frankly that will ruin my sex life." Layla finished her speech by clapping her hands together and waiting for Emma to respond.

Emma cleared her throat and studied the tile on the wall. It was mostly plain, white glossy ceramic tile. But, every few tiles there was one with a peach diamond in it that made the whole wall interesting. "That's what Layla is. She's a decorative tile that makes it all interesting." All in all Layla really did mean well.

"You're right Layla. You couldn't be more right. Thank you so much for putting it into perspective for me. Far be it from me to hinder your sex life. This whole talk has convinced me to start experience the more day time of life. Thank you."

Layla smiled feeling that she had indeed been helpful. She puffed up a bit and winked. "You're welcome. And by the way, I am sorry for calling you stupid. You know… all those times."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, and I'm sorry for calling you a castrating, overly opinionated, harpy… And rude. Sorry."

"You never called me that?" Responded a confused Layla.

"Oh well, then I must have just thought it. Good thing you haven't been pokin' around up there huh!" Emma smiled and then gestured for Layla to leave.

"Ok as soon as you're ready we can leave for that pathetic mall down town."

"Why? What do you need?"

"Nothing. It's what you need. We are going penis shopping!" Layla exclaimed excitedly.

Emma opened her mouth to react but all that came out was a sound not unlike t a cat gagging on a hair ball. "WHAT! Penis shopping? Are you off your meds or something? Where the hell did that come from?"

"You're as bad as those daft buffoons that follow me around all day wanting me to tell their mummies they say hello! What do you think we have been talking about?"

"Getting out of the house more! Meeting new people! You know starting have something that resembles an actually social life!" Emma blurted.

"Yes! Translation: Getting Laid."

"This is insanity! Why do I even bother talking to you! You're a crazy British girl living in my house who says completely crazy British things for crazy British reasons! Does your ego ever have any say in what you do or does your id just take complete control all the time… no breaks. Because I bet that would be exhausting!" Emma held her hands out as it Layla's response would have physical bearing. Suddenly the small, sterile bathroom felt smaller and slightly less sterile.

"Does your ego ever take a break? Come on? When's the last time you even thought bad thoughts about the male persuasion? Having sex will make you feel sooo much better! In what universe does getting laid NOT make a woman feel sexy and validated!"

"Do you know you just set the feminist thing back a couple of centuries?"

"Bloody hell, this has nothing to do with equal pay or any of that. You and I are the embodiments of female power for Christ's sake! This has everything to do with needs and duck, you are way over due! So get dressed. Wear something with cleavage and we will go and find you a penis with a nice face attached you can look at too!" With that Layla finally left the bathroom.

Emma stood for a moment staring at the ceiling shaking her head. Just as she thought to herself that she wasn't going, the door swung back open and Layla popped her head back in.

"And just in case you're thinking of flaking out of this; if you don't go, I'll tell your brother that you called me a terribly racist name and kicked me in the ankle with the wrong foot. And I will cry for hours as I tell him in great detail." And then she quickly shut the door.

"Damn! She's good. Because that's what I would do."

London, England

Martin scrambled through his mahogany office gathering all the pertinent information he could find. The Congress of Elders had agreed to hold a meeting based on Mr. Kessler's findings.

"Unbelievable! How could they lose something like that for centuries? It's utter madness! A child! How could they NOT pass that along!" He piled papers, files, books, scrolls and notes all together. He realized he would need something to transport them in. He could just run into the Congress of Elders like a raving lunatic carrying and armload of unorganized papers and texts! They would never take him seriously! He already had a hard enough time convincing them that he is fully capable to take on the duties of his position. There was plenty unrest in the Congress when he was announced to succeed Nigel Macmillan. Martin was the youngest Kor Tant Yul that the Brotherhood was aware of! This obviously was a constant obstacle for him. Many traditionalists in the Brotherhood firmly believed that the Kor Tant Yul should chosen based on his wealth of experience and knowledge that comes with decades and decades of devotion and study. But since these were modern times, a Kor Tant Yul needed to be business savvy as well. This was why Martin was chosen. He was younger that most of the Congress of Elders and was "more in touch with the modern world". He would be their bridge. And so far, during his "tour" he had lead the Brotherhood to finding a way to bring forth the ultimate force for good and also a way to utterly destroy it.

"It happens to the best of us!" His friend Fredrick has said. "Look at the American President, Bush isn't it! People came and killed thousands of his citizens! At first when he took action they loved him for it! And now, years later as he still wages war to find the right bastards, his own people condemn him for it. It's all about timing old chap. Chances are if anyone else were in your position right now they would be going through the same thing."

Martin looked at the clock. "Bugger, I only have an hour!" He pressed the small red button on the intercom and called for Virginia. "Virginia dear."

The heavy office doors opened and Virginia's small red face appeared. "YES MR. KESSLER?" She called out from across the spacious room. Martin rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell, the woman is as blunt as they come!" He mumbled to himself. He exhaled his frustration with her and yelled back his reason for calling her. "COULD YOU BE A DEAR AND GET ME SOME FILE BOXES?"

"SOME VILE CHOCOLATES?" She answered back perplexed.

"NO NO VIRGINIA! FILE BOXES! YOU KNOW CARDBOARD BOXES THAT ARE USED FOR HOLDING FILES!" He practically spelled it out for her this time.

"Ah yes right oh, be back in a tick sir!" And off she went puttering down the hall in search of boxes.

"Vile Chocolates indeed." Martin mused. "I need to make a note to hire a new secretary after this is over. A lovely young woman who knows her way around the telephones, can take dictation, type well, and can make a cup of tea without it tasting like feet." As he found the scroll he had been translating when he found the astonishing passage, Virginia reentered the office with a stack of brown and white file boxes.

"Here you go sir. Would you like me to organize those papers for you? Make sure everything is all ship shape for the big do?"

"No that's alright Virginia. I think I would like to do it myself. There is a certain way I need them to be packed, and I can't afford another fire."

"Yes that was quite a sight. Who knew that cardboard and butterscotch could react that way? Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

Martin began to fill the first box with various notes and books marked with vibrantly colored post-its. He had roughly forty-five minutes before the meeting and he would probably be able to make it with plenty of time if he didn't have to worry about Virginia causing another butterscotch incident.

"You know what; you have just been a gem today, honestly a true gem! Why don't you just take the rest of the day off and go shopping or something. What ever you do that is fun, for you, just take the day and have a go at it!" He smiled uneasily hoping she would take him up on the offer.

Immediately her plump face lit up like a strip in Las Vegas and she practically jumped onto his lap. "Oh thank you sir! Thank you! There was this new little shop just down the way that sells nothing but the most darling little clothes for cats and I this little tabby named Tabby…"

"Really, that's fascinating," Martin fained interest, "Wonderful, then it's settled you go and take the rest of the day off and bring back plenty of pictures of Tabby dressed as a Geisha or something! Ok? Ta ta then!"

Virginia waved daintily and then hurried off with her short brown curls bouncing behind her.

Martin's nerves were making his head tingle. This was precisely the sort of thing that he was afraid of when he was told that he was chosen. "All this bloody pressure. I'm bound to botch this eventually! Destined for failure!" He realized that his hands were shaking. He was normally so calm and well poised, but this was something huge! He had to convince the Congress of Elders to find something that, until now, was never believed to be even a remote possibility! How was he going to do this? Most of these old fools didn't even want him to be their "liaison to the modern world"! And none of them could even agree what the problem was!

Martin was startled by the sudden ringing of his office phone. He pressed the button next to the flashing red light and picked up the receiver. "This is Martin Kessler."

"Sir, this is Aiden MacAlister again. I have arrived at the Indiana Motherhouse."

"Yes Aiden good to hear. I trust your flight was fair? Our Lear Jets are some of the fastest and luxurious in the world you know. I envy you right now!" He truly did! Martin would give anything to be able to fly away from this mess if only for a moment to get his bearings.

"Yes sir, it was a lovely flight. But, there seems to be a bit of a problem." Aiden's voice trailed off. Martin could tell he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"Oh, and what would that be? Please tell me that it was stale peanuts."

"Well, it seems that Mr. Finch isn't here." Aiden paused, cringing really, awaiting for Mr. Kessler's reaction.

"What! Isn't there? I left notice before I even spoke to you for him to be on alert!"

"It would also seem that Mr. Finch has been gone since yesterday. But, they do expect him back by tomorrow morning."

"This is unacceptable Aiden! We don't have time to wait for our Brothers to return from spontaneous holiday! This is absurd! I will have to reprimand him for this!" Martin's head began to pound. There's no way Aiden would be able to corral all of those incarnates by himself! He was only twenty-six and recently ascended to the role of Abgal Da from initiate just this year. Martin would have to fly out there as soon as the Congress departed! Howard had better have a good explanation for this!

"Sir, I'm afraid there's more." Aiden gulped deeply.

"Go on."

"It appears that about a year ago, Ms. Fellows disappeared from the Motherhouse and they have been unable to locate her."

There was a long silence that was broken by Martin's exclamation. "What! Why is this news to me? Why is this news to anyone outside of The Indiana House? Are we not called a Brotherhood for a reason? Ok. Aiden you stay right where you are. Do your best to locate the Ba Musal around you. As soon as the Congress is done deliberating I will be in Indiana. Even if I have to convince a Highest One to teleport me, I will be there you can count on it! We will get to the bottom of all of this. I have a strange feeling that this is all connected! I will see you tomorrow! Blessings Brother Aiden."

"Blessings with you as well Kor Tant Yul."

As Martin hung up the phone his nerves were getting the better of him. He practically pulled his hair out by the root as he nervously ran his fingers through his hair. Wiping his sweaty palms on his slacks, he made for his black marble kitchenette.

"I need a cup of tea."