Bayville

Todd sighed once more and turned around to continue pacing in the other direction. It was warming up a little since the sun was directly above. There were no clouds in the sky at all and Todd paused to stare up at the pale sky. Silence rained from the weak blue heavens and here he was without an umbrella.

"It isn't supposed to be like this." Todd complained. His voice sounded far too loud and echoed through the canyon.

"It never is." A soft voice whispered to Todd. "We can help if you let us stay."

Todd looked around and, upon seeing the vast expanse of nothingness and mountains, looked down, half expecting the voice to be a figment of his imagination. Instead, he found himself staring into the bright blue eyes of a blonde boy, maybe 11 years old or thereabout. Beside him was another boy with reddish brown hair and equally blue eyes, though the look on the brunette was much more mature than the blonde.

"How did you get here?" Todd asked warily.

The blonde grinned. "The portal."

Todd frowned at the child's attitude. "Portal?"

"Yes."

Todd looked back at the group of huddled forms of the remaining mutants and Vulgates. "Either help us or kill us all quickly. You can stay with us as long as you want."

The blonde boy smirked and looked to his friend. "Alright. Glive, you ready?"

"Of course, Zieet. I would never tell you that I wasn't ready." The second boy spread his hands wide and tapped his fingers as though he was typing on a keyboard. "Go ahead and build the staircase."

Todd watched as the blonde boy braced himself and held his hands towards the steep face of the rock. Todd imagined he saw a faint shimmer in the air and suddenly the silence was broken by a grinding sound. Stone fell downwards and burst from the ground as the rock face and stony ground were both rearranged into the form of a rough staircase.

"Nice," Todd nodded and called to the mutants who were all staring blankly at the rock face. "Scott, Haiden. Get everyone up. We're getting out of here now."

Scott called back to Todd a few seconds later. "No can do. I think a few people here are frozen in place." Hiva had pulled himself up, looking deathly white and blue. He muttered something to the three Vulgates who couldn't move, straightened, and shook his head.

"We promised that we'd take care of you if you took care of us." The blonde kid said with a grin. Todd focused on the boys again.

"What are your names?"

"K'vas-ten nec Zieet, and this is K'mas-ten nec Glive."

Todd stared at the pair of them for a minute. "Kay who? Oh." He nodded as the boy's words sank in. "You're Vulgates?"

Zieet, the blonde grinned again. "Of course."

"Oh. I knew that. Are you doing something to the temperature?" Todd was beginning to feel warmer and had pins and needles all over his body.

"Yep." Zieet glared around him. "Make it fast, Glive. This crater bothers me."

The brunette made no indication that he would obey. "Patience is a virtue, Zieet."

With a scowl, Zieet spat back a reply. "What did I tell you about those blasted quotes?"

"Those who do not comprehend respond with violence." Glive intoned while his friend glared poison laced daggers at him. "Those who comprehend laugh at those who don't and make them do all the work."

Zieet stalked away to join the rest of the group with one last scowl and a heartfelt oath.

Glive flashed a grin at his friend's receding back. "I'm done. We can go now."

Todd gaped at Glive. "That's it? Just like that? You two kids pop up out of nowhere and make things better?"

Glive smiled serenely. "You have to understand, we brought supplies and since you pretty much cleared the way for us, we didn't have to fight either."

Todd frowned. "You were following us?"

The Vulgate had the decency to look embarrassed. "Ah, well. Yes. We were."

"And you just came out?" Todd's frown deepened as he thought of what else could have followed them.

Glive was over his embarrassment in an instant. "Yes. We waited just in case we got caught. We really didn't know you needed us before we came up here. But like I was saying-"

Something clicked in Todd's head. "You two are nobles. That's what K'mas means right? You shouldn't be up here." Todd glanced at Hiva, who was glowering at a thoroughly cowed Zieet.

Glive shrugged. "You can't send us back now."

"Hmm. I can't." Todd said with a wicked grin and a significant glance towards the rest of the group.

Glive looked slightly perturbed. "But... you may need our help again. You still aren't in any position to defend yourselves. Let us help."

Todd nodded his approval. "You're one smooth talker, kid. Alright. Keep up." He headed towards the newly formed stairs where Scott was waiting for him.

Scott stared down at the short Vulgate, who blinked up at him. He turned to Todd. "What happened? Who are those kids? Hiva was pretty upset when he saw them here." Glive smiled sweetly at Scott and began climbing the stairs.

"Two nobles," was all Todd said, but it was enough. He and Scott followed Glive up the stairs to join the rest of the group.

Scott groaned. "We're gonna get it for this."

Glive, who was steadily climbing just slow enough to eavesdrop, turned his head around. "It's okay. We plan on staying here. We're running away." Over his shoulder, Todd and Scott could see the first Vulgates had reached the top of the stairs and were gathering as if they didn't know what to do next.

"He can talk?" Scott asked Todd and then pushed the boy up the stairs faster so he and Todd could sort things out at the top.

"Apparently so." Todd answered in a bemused tone. Even with Scott egging him on, Glive was moving as slowly as possible so he could listen in.

Scott shook his head and hoisted Glive over his shoulder. "Why? I thought that Felin was the only one who knew English." With Glive out of the way, the two mutants moved much faster.

"Oh, I learned and then I taught Zieet." Glive's voice drifted from behind them. The small Vulgate twisted out of Scott's grasp. Before Scott could even react, Glive was racing up the last few stairs to stare at the landscape with his elders.

Todd was close behind. "Who did you learn from?"

Glive shrugged. "Evan."

"Evan?"

Glive elbowed his way to where Zieet was standing with Hiva. "Yeah. It was easy to pick up the language from him."

Todd and Scott looked at each other.

"Forget I asked." Scott muttered.

They both glanced at the two kids as they worked their way to the front of the crowd. Glive was smiling disarmingly and babbling something in Vulgate to Hiva, who just looked madder. Zieet was glaring at the ground as if it had somehow wronged him.

"We'll save it for later. We need shelter and food right now." Todd said wearily.

"Any ideas?" Scott asked him. "I think we could check out the old skatepark. A bomb blew up in there once and not even the decor was messed up. It's probably still standing."

Todd snickered. The skatepark had had so many bombs set off in it that it had no decor. Scott had probably never been inside, which was why he assumed someone had bothered to decorate the concrete park.

"What?" Scott asked. As he looked from Todd to Evan, both of whom were grinning like sharks.

"Nothing, but that's a good idea. To the skatepark."