The sun rose.
It illuminated everything, from the morning dew on the grass to the animals now waking or sleeping or eating or something. Birds sang, the walls of Demure stood there doing what walls do, and two drivers involved in an early morning traffic accident peacefully screamed at each other and threatened to unleash their lawyers.
A tall beech tree cast a long shadow across the lawns of Demure. Underneath it, a boy and a girl sat, hand in hand, watching the sunrise. Peace... thought Lili Zanotto.
So maybe she was watching nothing more amazing then something that had been seen (11 200 000 000 000 x 365) times before. So perhaps the event occurring before their eyes was naught more than a massive nuclear fireball coming into view thanks to the rotation of a massive ball of rock in space. Things were what you made of it.
She turned to Raz. "Well, time to go," she smiled down at Raz, who grinned back at her in return. "You don't want to be late for your first day."
XXXX
Tessa stared blankly over her coffee, the heat steaming upwards in a visible cloud. All around her was hustle and bustle, the clinking of cutlery on plates and bowls overlaid with the barely-controlled chaos of a cafeteria. Lester glanced up at her for a second and went back to eating, or more accurately grabbing everything in sight and stuffing it into his mouth. Angus was keeping to himself, occasionally reaching out to grab his orange juice as he sat engrossed in a tome of arcane knowledge(1)
"Is it just me," she muttered to herself, "or is that guy… somewhat… familiar?"
A tall, purplish-brown haired kid with a pair of goggles slung around his neck was heading towards them, holding a large tray of assorted foodstuffs in one hand and clasping Lili's hand in the other. Tessa's eyes widened slightly over her coffee, and immediantly watered to remind their owner what a bad move that had been.
Lester nudged her. "Hey, look who Lili dragged in" he muttered, still spooning cereal into his mouth. Tessa nodded vaguely. "I wonder why… circus kid… is here?" Lester continued through a mouthful of milk.
"Circus kids need their education too, I guess" shrugged Tessa. Zoe, appearing from nowhere in particular, put her tray down. "What's all the fuss about?" she asked, grabbing a spoon. "Oh, hey, Lili, where were you last night? We went to bed before you got in, but you were gone before we woke up? Where'd you…"
Razputin emerged from behind Lili, still balancing the breakfast tray. "First things first," he began, "It's Dante here. And secondly…"
He paused, looking around the table. Angus was still engrossed in his book, totally oblivious to what was going on at the table around him. Tessa and Lester were watching him, Zoe was apparently stuck between deciding whether to finish with the spoon in her hand or react to Raz's appearance, and Lili was trying to balance a tray without instinctively resorting to telekenisis. "…it's good to see you guys again."
(1)True Psychic Tales, but unfortunantly for Angus it's the crappy hardback non-fiction book instead of the kick-ass comic books featuring Sasha Nein.
XXXX
Several sets of eyes were on their table. Lili could feel them. Most were just people wondering who the new kid was, why he was with were with the… with the rejects, when he could be with them, you know, being cool, not nerdy and stupid and outcast like them…
Lili shook herself (mentally and physically). If you spent too long thinking with them, you ended up thinking like them. Most people's minds worked like that, even non-psychics – although her dad had always told her that people's minds were all psychic to some degree, some moreso than others. Oleander, too had once told her that any person, if they were of a sufficient meaness, could have powered any of his Psycho-blaster Death Tanks (Lili had wondered aloud why Bobby Zilch's hadn't worked but then noticed him trailing after Chloe and given up on that train of thought).
Ah, what she wouldn't give to be surrounded by psychics right now, she thought. The ease which the use of psychic powers brought with it would be one benefit, but mostly it was just comforting to be surrounded by Psychics. Raz's presence brought a lot of comfort, but…
"Lili?" interrupted Zoe. Lili snapped out of her thoughts. "Wha? Who? Wha? Oh, Zoe. Yeah?"
"Uh… where'd you go last night?" asked Zoe, as Raz and Lester arm-wrestled, apparently to prove something, behind her. "Because, you know, you weren't in the room when I went to sleep, and you weren't there when I woke up, so I was wondering where you went, and… uh… yeah."
"Oh…" said Lili. "I was showing some new kid around the place. Not Ra- Dante. Some other kid. Ricardo? Ricardo something. Ricardo – "
"Cortez" rumbled Ricardo, who suddenly loomed out of the crowd. "I have come to collect Dante. I believe Mr. Sheil requires our presence in order to sort out some things, maybe involving classes and the like. Dante?" he said, slightly louder, to get Raz's attention.
"Hmm? Oh, hey, Ricardo! Everyone meet Ricardo." said Raz. "He's new here too." Ricardo bowed slightly, and said "The bell goes soon, Dante, and Mr. Sheil requires our presense. I think. Come, we must leave."
"Really? Well, we'd better go then. I'll see you guys later" said Raz, jumping down from the bench. He waved goodbye to them as Ricardo strode through the crowd like it didn't even exist.
"So, Lili..." said Tessa, after a few minutes. "Why is he really here?"
"Who?" asked Angus, looking up from his book.
XXXX
There was a knock at the door, and it swung slowly open. Razputin and Ricardo strode into Mr. Sheil's office and stood there, looking slightly awkward.
It looked like a bomb had gone off inside, basically. Piles of scorched paper were stacked untidily across every single avaliable surface, and some that weren't avaliable but nevertheless the effort had been made. A small patch of carpet and two chairs were the only clear places in the room that wasn't covered by the burnt masses of documents, books, miscellaneous trophies, watches, stationary, footballs (footballs? wondered Raz) and old videotapes. Sheil himself popped up from behind his desk after a few seconds.
"Sorry, boys, I was hunting for my coffee" he offered by way of explanation as he brushed aside a massive hill of paper to reveal a chair, which he sat back on. "So, who are you? Ah, yes, Mr. Cortez, Dante, hello. Hmmm..."
"Uh, we were told to report here. By you. Yesterday." said Raz, helpfully. Cortez just sat, facing forwards.
"Yes, yes, I know that." said Mr. Sheil irritably. "Just one second." he reached into a pile, seemingly at random, and pulled out a folder. "Ok, ok, ok..." he muttered. "Rample - Rendle - Rew - Ricardo, Cortez. Hmmm... here's your timetable." he added, handing Ricardo a small square of cardboard. "You've got Maths, first. Better go, I hear Mrs. Truman likes to eat brains if you don't get there on time. Wait one second" - he scribbled something on another miraculeously produced pice of paper - "here's a late note, you'll probably need it. Shoo!"
Ricardo shuffled out of the doorway as Mr Sheil stuck his hand back in the pile someplace. "Hrmm... Colpas - Cubran - Cuprantis - Currandle - Daniel - Daniel - Dante. Or maybe I should say... Razputin Aquatto?"
There was a slight noise, and suddenly Raz wasn't there anymore. Sheil blinked. "Hey, look, calm down. I'm your contact. Didn't Sasha tell you? Or Milla? Yeesh, they could've at least told you your girlfriend has a bodyguard."
As Razputin faded back slowly into view, hand still raised threateningly to his temple, Sheil grinned slightly. "What?" asked Raz. "Bodyguard? Why didn't Lili tell me?"
"Probably because she doesn't know" said Sheil, reaching down into a drawer and rummaging. "I've been guarded her on Truman's orders for about 5 years now, and she's never suspected a thing. I doubt anybody can shield their minds as well as I can... but, anyway. Back to buisness. I've got a dossier on your a mile thick. World's Youngest official Psychonaut, huh? And that stuff you pulled with Oleander... amazing."
"Thanks... I guess." said Raz. "But, seriously. What's going on here?"
"Ah... look. It's probably easier if i just show you, ok? I'm not good with words." said Sheil, pulling out a small psycho-portal, and fitting it to his head. "Now, we'd better lock the door first, eh? Don't want people to come in here and find you staring at me with a door stuck to my head. That would shock people. Ready?"
"Ready" said Raz, pulling the goggles over his eyes. Familiar music and a guitar riff played in his head. The psychoportal opened, and Razputin was sucked forwards into a world of swirling paper.
THERE. Jesus. It's harder writing than you'd think --. I keep thinking I shouldn't have used Raz, because I can't write Raz. I can't! I kept trying to think of snappy dialogue and I keep coming up with boring, cliched stuff. Oh well. I'm going to have fun with Sheil's awesome junkpile of a mind >>
