Chapter Five: Cars Start to Crash

By the time that Imy was about to arrive, all thoughts and fears of becoming a Lecta made there way to the back of Riley's mind. Mainly through self-fooling and the urge to forget, all ponderings of terror were pushed back into the recesses of her vacant musings.

The apartment was all hers at the moment, Jimena having just left for her work, being a secretary at a growing law firm.

And then that moment was gone, as there was a loud thudding on the door. There was a pause, and then the intense thudding continued. Imy. Mumbled Riley to herself, as she slowly went over and opened the door. Sure enough, Imy was standing there, looking impatient as ever.

"Here's a thought, open the door when people knock." She huffed.

A tiny smile appeared on Riley's features, Imy hated having to wait on others to grant her entrance since gaining her teleportation powers, "We have neighbors you know." She mumbled.

"I bet. Neighbors who would answer the door if someone was knocking." She said, inviting herself in as Riley gently closed the door behind her.

"More like violently pummeling." She quipped. "In which case, they would call the cops."

Imy kicked off her tall combat boots at the door and leaned against one of the kitchenette's counters. "So what do you want to do?" She asked lazily.

Riley shrugged, "Anything besides Daughter stuff."

Imy beamed; pulling into her paramilitary duffel bag she normally carried with her and pulled out her CD case and a notebook, "Just what I was thinking." She said grinning, "Jimena won't mind horribly if you were to leave for a couple hours, would she?"

"Probably not, so long as I let her know I won't be in, and I don't use my powers until tonight." Replied Riley.

"Good." Stated Imy matter-of-factly, "In which case, grab your guitar, because we're going to have band practice."

Riley stared at her in amazement, "And how on Earth did you get Twiggy to wake from his eternal slumber?"

She smirked, "I just kept calling, and calling, and calling-"

"I get the point." Riley cut her off before she could continue her soon-to-be annoying rant, "Is it at Jake's?" It was some unwritten law that band practice was always at the drummer's home. It didn't hurt that Jake's parents owned one of the largest homes in the area; his dad was a hotshot lawyer.

"Naturally." She responded.

There was a shrill honk from outside the apartment building, and Imy quickly went over to the window, "And look!" she exclaimed, "There's our ride."

Riley causally strolled to the window, sure enough, outside was Twiggy's beat to hell '78 Chevy. She sighed, "Let me write a note." She proceeded to the counter where she flipped the note of the fridge from the morning over and scribbled down Jake's address and phone number.

When she turned around, Imy had miraculously conjured her guitar and was by the door, ready to go.

Riley shook her head disapprovingly, "This is what I mean."

"What?" Pouted Imy.

"Using your powers like that. It would've taken a mini-second to walk to my room and then to the door." She stated, eerily sounding like a reproachful high school principal.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Said Imy, tossing Riley's case at her.

Riley's heart skipped a few beats when she realized that Imy had just tossed her 'precious.' She caught it, barely, and heaved a huge sigh of agitation, "Please, never do that again."

Imy let loose a hearty laugh, "Oh, lighten up Ri-ster." She said, heading out the door where the infinite sound of Twiggy's car blaring echoed loudly.

She groaned and followed her best friend out the door.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Twiggy's car gave a new definition to the word 'heap.' The back of the car, littered with vintage metal band stickers, had its rear bumper rotting off due to rust and most likely reckless driving. Both of his side mirrors were cracked, the roll windows were jammed at half way, the windshield had bird poop all over it, and the speedometer didn't work.

And that was just the outside.

Nimbly crawling over the folded passenger's seat, Riley crammed herself and her guitar in the back, to the side of Twiggy's bass case. Almost in the fetal position, she resisted the urge to comment dryly on all the food wrappers in the back. Now, she wasn't anal when it came to cleaning, but too much was too much.

Imy slid in after her, unfolding the seat and chirping a spirited greeting to the agitated and irritable Twiggy.

Twiggy was the oldest in the band, at eighteen. His long, thick, and gnarled dread locks were pulled back in a greasy ponytail. His ratty tee-shirt may have been white once, but was now a off-gray color. Ripped jeans, four-day stubble, mud-splattered boots, and the half-smoked cigarette between his teeth seemed to tie together all the things that made Twiggy, well, Twiggy.

"Practice has to absolutely be at dawn?" He mumbled, annoyed.

Imy scrunched her nose, "Can you put that thing out?"

Twiggy rolled his eyes as he backed out of his parking spot, "Don't tell me you're going to be one of those 'second-hand smoke kills' kinda people."

"No, that'll happen before you become one of those 'Hey let's shower once a month' kinda people." She retorted, "It stinks. Put it out."

He growled something inaudible to Riley but nevertheless flicked the cigarette on the dashboard, "Happy?"

"Has anyone informed you that you're extremely unpleasant?" She replied

"Lots of times."

"Hmph, small wonder."

"Hey Riley," He said, deliberately ignoring Imy, "Long time no see."

"Ya." She whispered, not really sure what to say.

"So what's the deal with you two? We haven't had a real practice in…" He tried to calculate his head, but apparently gave up, "Forever."

Imy rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up on the dashboard, "We've been busy."

"With what?"

"None of your business."

"You're not singing with that one band, are you? Knight's Table or whatever the hell they call themselves." He said, his mud-brown eyes narrowed.

"Nope." Interjected Riley, knowing that Imy would most likely blow up at the mention of Round Table.

Twiggy and Imy seemed to have a love-hate relationship. They would constantly bicker, or insult one another, but at the same time neither of them took the other seriously. At least, not seriously enough to cause problems.

Twiggy seemed to take Riley's word for truth, "Then what have you been doing?" He asked, as he turned onto another boulevard.

"I've been suffering at school," Riley replied awkwardly. It was true, she was having a hard time, between all the late nights and her recent fainting spells.

Twiggy looked like he was about to say something, but instead he slammed the breaks of his car and muttered, "Oh shit!"

A lot happened in that short moment. First, a low riding black sports car had cut them off at the intersection, turning left in the lane at the last possible moment. As Twiggy was speeding, when he hit the brakes the entire car rocketed forward. However, the car didn't slow enough in time, so it hit head-on with a nearby telephone pole.

After the collision, everything seemed to slow. Riley, wearing a seatbelt, was buried under all the band equipment that had been jutted out of its place, she did, however, have enough time to see Twiggy's head jerk forward and hit the dashboard. Hard.

Imy, was lucky she had her gift. Not wearing a seatbelt, the impact had caused her to launch forward, almost flying out of the windshield. Sheer instinct saved her, teleporting at the last possible moment and landing on the sidewalk outside. Instead of having a horribly marred corpse, she suffered a few scrapes.

Riley scrambled to get out of the various amplifiers, cables, and cases that she was tangled in. A sharp jolt of pain rushed up and down her leg as she realized that she had caught a rather sharp corner of one of the amps. Enraged and not thinking coherently, she kicked it off and shoved everything off of her.

She paused a moment as she sensed a fleeting emotion of sadistic glee as the black car sped away. She had enough resolve left to try and see who was driving or get a possible license plate number. She didn't recognize the driver of the car, but as it turned she saw the all too familiar countenance of someone close to her.

Her mother.

The scene around her vanished, and all she saw was the wickedly smiling figure of the one she loved in this world the most. All the worried bystanders, now dialing on their cell phones for an ambulance, or the ones trying to help Imy and Twiggy, were forgotten.

Her mother had tried to kill her.

The realization dawned on her at that moment. The next time that her mother saw her, she would not hold back.

Would Riley?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

End o' chapter!

Sorry this took so long, and is on the short side, I was having writers block I suppose. Regular updates are coming back again .

Next Up: The aftermath of the car crash, and the meeting at the mall.

Reviewers:

Decorus Mortis: lol, I wasn't aiming for her to be like Serena, but in some ways I suppose that she is. Actually, Riley's personality is the one I identify with most as well, I'm kind of like the shy, occasionally out of place pacifist. Which is part of her persona. Lol I tried to get all types from the people I see around me. Imy's character is actually based on one of my close friends. She's naturally obnoxious like that ;) lol. So I'm glad that the characters identify with people : ) makes my day.

Shadow Goddess Akhet: Lol, I guess I'm really just pure evil, making you wait this long lol. Thanks for reading

Christine Marquez: Hehe, good to hear I'm improving lol. Thanks for reading

Lover of Rain: Well, ok, but only since you asked so nicely.

Sleepneeded911: I love your reviews. Nice and long : ). I am also glad that she knows too, it makes it much easier to write, Serena and Stanton do play a part in my story, and they're history will be coming up in either this book, or around the fifth one. (I have about 12 books planned lol, go me) Stanton, however, will be a huge part in the plot of this book, so, er, stay tuned lol. Tymmie is probably my favorite character of the canon DOTM, so yep, he's a rather influential part of the plot as well. He's definitely going to be making more appearances as the story goes on. Hmm…. Lol not gonna comment of the Serena theories… I don't believe I've ever heard of One Tree Hill, what's it about? Don't worry about your replies being so long, I enjoy long ones, they're fun to read.

Elephantsrocmysox: Thanks for all your reviews! Yep, Riley and Trysten are both chosen ones, why, well, cuz! Lol. Ooo…. Now that you say that, I almost wish I had made him a Regulator, that would've been fun, eh? Yep, poor Riley, going crazy. In response to Orpheus and Eurydice, I've read two versions that mention he looks back to make sure she's following him. Since Greek Mythology has tons of different interpretations, its possible that there is another one where he sees the light, and that that's the right one. But I'm basing mine off of a book I've had for years, so it may or may not be the right version. Thanks for reading! (And I've decided I'm going to name my chaps too : ) )

The demon goddess: Lol, chapter at last! Stanton…well…Stanton…eh….um…. I'll let you read it and find out lol. Can't wait to read the Haggis fic!

Toodles

!nym!