Chapter 5: Burnt Up
Sorry I got that last chapter up late. The internet was being a buttmunch, and it wouldn't let me load my chapters. Everything's good now, though. Here's the new chapter.
And, as always, the chapter title is kinduv a pun. Phoebe (as you will soon find out) is all "burnt up" over burning the Main Cabin… Yeah, I know it's lame.
After awhile, Lili came back. "Okay. Everything's good now. We saved the Main Cabin. It still needs some repairs, but we have a bunch of powerful psychics here, and usually they're bored for most of the day, so that should give them something to do. Plus it'll help them fine-tune their precision skills."
"Where's Sasha?"
"Up at the cabin, talking to the girl who started it. Not to mention that she's crying and that she's really upset. Sasha's still lecturing her on how she has to control her pyrokinetic powers. I wouldn't be surprised if she got mad at him and set him on fire."
"He'd deserve it. You don't yell at someone when they make a mistake like that. They're already beating themselves up on the inside, and they don't need any help."
"Yeah, I know. Once, when I was little, I got mad at my dad and threw my doll at him, and the plastic part hit his eye, and I felt really bad about it, but he got mad, so then I got mad at him."
"My mom got mad whenever I used my psychic skills. And whenever I talked about cute girls."
"That's just mean. She's screwed up."
"Tell me about it."
"Do you wanna go and help make Phoebe feel better?"
"Who?"
"The little girl who set the Main Cabin on fire."
"Oh. I'm not sure I'd be any good at it, but sure."
"Milla's probably gotten mad at Sasha already, so he shouldn't be there."
"Okay. Let's go."
There were two simultaneous pops, and the two girls were at the Main Cabin.
Phoebe had green skin and dark hair, and she was sobbing. Milla was hugging her. If everyone had someone to hug them when they're sad, Zig thought, I might not be like I am.
Lili and Zig went to hug Phoebe and say nice things, because really, she wasn't alone. Zig told her about the time when she was mad at her mom (she didn't say why) and she teleported all the way to her school. That was the first time she'd ever used her psychic powers, and she'd been terrified.
"So you aren't alone." Zig was trying to do that soothing, soft voice she had never been able to do. "Most people have problems with their dominant powers. When you grow up, you can be a psychonaut, and you can be Phoebe the Flaming… uh… Female? I dunno. Or Phoebe the Fiery something. The great thing about summer camp is, everyone understands that you don't have that good of a grip on your powers."
"Except Sasha," Lili added.
"Yeah, but he doesn't seem like he comes out of his lab much."
"No, he doesn't. And don't worry. You won't go into psychoisolation for an accident. Psychoisolation is for people who do bad things on purpose. You'll probably just go back to your mind with Cruller to get more control over your power." Lili was talking in a soft, soothing voice. Zig kept quiet after that. She knew she wasn't that good at being nice to people.
"But… But I don't even know why it happened." It was the first time Phoebe had talked since Zig had gotten there. Lili continued in that same, soothing voice.
"Most times, people don't. But you didn't hurt anyone, and you're just a kid. There are tons of kids who have problems with pyrokinesis. It's perfectly okay. Heck, it's even helpful for kids who need help with their telekinesis."
"Why?"
"Because we're going to build back the Main Cabin. Plus, some of the trees are getting unnaturally thick. We should only need one or two – it wasn't really that big of a fire."
"But I came here to control my pyrokinesis… and now…"
"You've been here for awhile, and you didn't set anything on fire. You have good control, Phoebe. But you're still just a kid. The only reason I can keep my powers under control is that I have to work with them for an hour every day. Most kids don't have to do that. So, maybe just get a little more control, and you'll be fine."
"Okay. Milla?"
"Yes, darling?"
"Could… Could we go to your lab? It always makes me feel better."
"Certainly, darling. Now, come on. You need a place to be happy."
Lili smiled as they left. Zig felt good because she'd made a difference in someone's life. Besides her usual bad influence, of course. She'd done something right. It felt good. Before, everything she'd done that she'd thought had been right had been wrong. Even when she did well in school, her mom had said she'd cheated. When she was nice to people and tried to make friends, they were never good enough in her mom's eyes. Eventually, she just stopped trying to have friends, because what was the point? When she'd wanted a religion centered around peace, it wasn't Christianity, so of course it was wrong. Even when she'd run away, she knew it was the right thing, but it was also the wrong thing. Her life was so confusing. Maybe that was why it was so screwed up.
"You wanna go do… something?"
"Sure." They walked around a little bit, then got tired of doing that and just stood there and hung out. Eventually, they went back to the girls' cabin and went to sleep.
The next day, they went back to Sasha's lab and back into Zig's mind. They got farther that day. Lili was better at following Zig now, so they went faster. Also, there was no monster in the beginning and no interruptions for a couple of hours. Then they were done with figments, baggage, cobwebs, and all that stuff.
"Sasha! We're ready to come back! Could you pull us out?"
"Certainly, girls. Lili, you'll have to use your smelling salts. I can only take Zig out."
"Okay."
Before she was pulled out, Zig saw Lili pull out a little packet and grimace.
A moment later, a conscious Lili was standing next to her.
"Wow. You had a lot of baggage."
"Yeah. Let's not talk about it. My life is screwed, and that's the end of it. Okay? Done."
"Okay."
"Wow. Is my hair really that messy?"
"Yeah. You didn't brush it this morning, did you?"
"Nope."
"Did you bring a brush to camp?"
"Yeah. Let's go. I don't want to look this bad."
Sasha was already doing experiments with his new chemical mixture (Lili had told her that his exclamation in German the day before had translated to 'Success! I've done it!' Needless to say, he was very excited, in a Sasha-type way)
They teleported to their cabin, where Zig sorted through her duffel, trying to find her hairbrush.
"Finally! Here it is. Will you do my hair, Lili? I'm really bad at it."
"Sure. Is your scalp hard or soft?"
"So hard I didn't even feel it when I had this knot that was so bad that, after like a minute, I just cut it out."
"Okay. That's good to know."
This also gave Zig time to look at stuff from different places. It was also the first time she really noticed Lili's hair.
Her hair would probably be about waist-length if it were down. It looked like she'd used hair bands to wrap her hair around Christmas ornaments, (like people do with water bottles on Crazy Hair Day) except that the bottom sphere stopped halfway down and still had a bowl shape. There were two normal spheres on either side of her head and one half-sphere below them.
"Whoa – how many gallons of gel do you have to use to get your hair to stay like that?"
"Actually, it's telekinesis. My older sister was using telekinesis to make her hair stay at this one party, so I figured I could use it for my normal, everyday style. It doesn't really take that much concentration, now that I'm used to it. How do you keep your hair from being frizzy?"
"I don't. It just does that. Why are we talking about hair?"
"Because you brought the subject up."
"Oh, yeah, huh?"
"Yeah. Do you want to go collect stuff from around camp? It's fun!"
"Sure. I have a dowsing rod now."
"Okay. We'll have to divide up the areas though. Do you like gaining rank or getting arrowheads more?"
"Uh… I guess I like arrowheads. I'm a pretty high rank already."
"So am I. I know the Lake area has a lot of arrowheads. And some other stuff, too, like a couple of scavenger hunt items… I've already finished the Scavenger Hunt, so do you want to do it?"
She remembered the little paper Cruller had given her.
"Sure."
"Okay. It levels you up eight levels. It's fun."
"Coolness."
They went around and got all the collectibles from around camp – the Psi Cards, Psi Challenge Markers, and Arrowheads, plus all the Scavenger Hunt items. It was surprisingly easy. Well, except for that one psi card up above camp. She'd been able to psi float down to the ledge most of the time. She wasn't good with walking or moving on ropes. Eventually, she'd just pulled her legs up to the tightrope and went along like a sloth. Then when she was there, she jerked her arms in, pulling her upper body up, and made a wild swing at the card. She got it, and psi floated back down. That was the reason she always wore tights. You never know when you're going to be levitating above people, and a dress like hers didn't really go with levitation.
Lili greeted her at the bottom. All of the kids were cheering for her – most of them couldn't get that psi card.
"Wow. Good job. Cool way of getting across that rope, too."
"Anyone could do it."
"Not necessarily. Like, Dogan, that kid over there? He tried a ton of times, and he's really lucky he has his psi float. You're supposed to get your merit badges renewed each year, which I think is dumb, but I think he actually kind of needs it. He's really powerful, like, he's blown up three people's heads already, but that's the one psi card that hardly anyone can get."
"So I guess you got it on your first try."
"Yeah, but I didn't even try until I knew advanced levitation. That's the stuff you do without a little glowing ball. I might be able to teach you. I have to warn you, though, it's even more addictive than the normal levitation."
"That's possible?"
"Yep. It's also supposed to help with advanced telekinesis, where you can pick up a bunch of items at once. I think that's what Milla does with her earrings. One of the old camp stories is that Sasha made them for her, but that's one of the ones I've chosen not to believe."
"Cool. How long will it take to teach me?"
"A long time. And that actually brings up something else. Where are you going to go after this? You can't stay here forever. Are you going home?"
"No. There's too much between us. I don't know. I'll survive, though. I'll find someplace to stay."
"I was thinking, maybe you could come to Psychonauts Headquarters with me. That's where I live about half of the time."
"And the other half?"
"At my family's summer house near San Francisco, here, and… well, just… places. The life of a Psycadet is crazy, but it's better than being a Psychonaut, because that's actually dangerous."
"Oh. Yeah, huh?"
"Yeah. But it could be fun. The partner I have now at HQ is a total butthead. She's really girly, and it's like, why the heck to I have to put up with her? I mean, that stuff's nice once in a long, long while, but this is, like, every day. It's really nice to have her there when the dances come around, though. She can do anything with my hair."
"Hm. She sounds like a total freak. I mean, I'm weird, but those sorts of people just kind of scare me. I… guess I'll be your room mate. How bad can it be? I mean, we're already in the same cabin."
"Cool. Okay, I have to go do my homework."
"Wha – how the heck would you do that?"
"My teacher has a website, so all the kids who have that go on Sasha's computer and look up what their homework is. Otherwise, their teachers e-mail it to them. I have all my textbooks under my bed."
"Cool. I'm pretty sure my teacher does too. I should be able to catch up on the two days I've been gone. Wait – it's Tuesday, right?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Okay, I'm good. I actually planned that. I ran away on Friday night."
"Smart. You know, sometimes I think my dad's controlling my life a little too much. I'm the most powerful psychic compared to my sisters, so he wants me to be a Psychonaut, which would be fine except that he's putting way to much pressure on it. My mom understands that she has to just let me do my own thing, but my dad is just… After awhile, it gets really annoying, y'know?"
"Yeah. Wait – why are we walking? We could just take the little mine carts."
"Oh, yeah, huh?"
"Yeah. Hey – do you have any extra pencils?"
"Tons. I always lose them, so I bring a ton. Actually, it's just one of those little bags of them. They're pretty. They're sort of pearly white, but then the grip and the clicky part with the eraser are colored."
"Cool. I like mechanical pencils. When the lead breaks, you don't have to spend like a minute trying to sharpen them without breaking the lead a kazillion more times."
They jumped down the tree stump and went to Sasha's lab, did their homework (Zig had two days' worth, but she was only in fifth grade. I guess Lili would be in fourth grade because she should be Raz's age, and this shouldn't be too long before Psychonauts) then went to the camp store, which was in the front of the Main Lodge, and therefore hadn't even been touched by the flames.
Cruller was as crazy as ever, so Lili bargained with him and got a bunch of psi cores for only seven arrowheads apiece. It was really all in how she bargained.
She gave the psi cores to Zig, and they went to Cruller's sanctuary. She gained a bunch of levels, then they went to bed. They had to deal with a pyrokinetic panther, though.
Okay, let's get one thing straight.
This is not filler.
This is more realistic.
Working with the extremely strange characters I have, I'm making a story that goes more like life than a story. Stories have clear plots. Only the chapters in here separate the events. In life, things go from one place to the next without that much separation. If we tried, we could separate the events, but the problem is, we can only do that by looking back. What I'm trying to do here is to get Zig from Point A to Point B. Point A was running away. I've already started foreshadowing Point B.
So, while this isn't one of those stories with a clear plot, and it doesn't have any magnificent events or things that make it the best fanfiction ever, if you think about your life, you'll see that real life just goes on. It doesn't have pauses after all of those great things you've done, it just has stuff that happens, and accidents that happen, and everything is in between good and bad.