It's about Time
Chapter 8
Kate was coming to the realization that finding these alien statues wasn't all that easy. "If this is an invasion where are they?" she muttered. She spun in place and didn't see anything that looked like a statue that had its hands covering its eyes. There were statues, yes, but they were all statues dedicated to something or someone.
She'd spent the entire day like yesterday and the day before walking around the city. Since the only money she had was the money she had found in the house and their credit cards so she needed to use the cold hard cash sparingly.
However, that didn't stop her from stopping at a local market to buy some food using one of the credit cards and forging the name on the card.
Kate had put away her purchases and was getting started on making dinner since she was starving when there was a knock at her front door. "No one knows I'm here." The people that manned the desk downstairs had never stopped her. She had a card that gained her access to the elevator so they said nothing.
She left the chicken that she was preparing and went to the door. Opening it showed her that there was a young woman on the other side. "Who are you?" the woman demanded since Kate shouldn't be there.
"I live here," Kate replied.
"No, my parents live here. …MOM!" the young woman yelled into the space past Kate. Kate grabbed her arm, pulled her into the entryway, and slammed the door closed. "What the HELL!" Who did this strange lady think she was?
Kate didn't have time for this so she shifted to her Dark Phoenix form and reached out with her hands to hold her head. Then she channeled all of her power into her hands.
The look of pain and shock lasted only a few heartbeats and in seconds her entire head, bone and all, turned into ash and given that now that the body was off balance it fell to the floor. Her power had cauterized the damage at the neck so there was no blood. The heart was even still beating and keeping the body alive.
Kate couldn't yet risk taking her out of the house to dispose of the body so she left it right where it was, shifted back to being human, and went into the kitchen to finish making dinner. She would search her purse and body after eating and cleaning up.
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Kate had no trouble sleeping that night after getting rid of the body. Her body would never, ever be found since it was all ash scattered in the wind. She had learned that she was likely going to have a future problem.
"She has a different last name. Meaning she's married to someone and that someone will probably come looking for her or call and ask her parents if they've seen her." It told her she would have to kill at least one more person in order to stay where she was. It was mostly only a minor nuisance.
Right now she was walking through a large park she had found that had statues all over the place. Though so far not any of the ones she was looking for. That was until she saw one.
It was just standing there at the edge of a concrete walkway. It was about six feet tall, had its hands over its face and eyes, and was clearly made of stone. So she started walking toward it. Then she noticed a man sitting on a bench who looked to be looking right at it.
Kate ignored him for now and got closer to the statue since something had caught her attention. "It's wearing handcuffs!" That indeed was different and not what she was expecting.
"Makes you wonder what the sculptor was thinking, doesn't it?" Rick asked and watched her turn to look at him before quickly turning back to look at the statue. Thankfully it hadn't moved an inch.
Kate backed up a little then turned at an angle to look at the stranger who was just sitting there. She saw that he had one eye on her and one on the statue. She noticed he was rather handsome so she chose to sit next to him and talk while she watched the statue with him.
They were both silent for a time until she noticed something else. "Shackles?" Its legs were secured to the concrete by a chain.
"Interesting, isn't it?" Rick turned his head to look at her. Up close she was truly lovely. Intrigued, he looked for a ring on her finger. When he didn't find one he decided to keep talking.
"What is the sculptor trying to tell us? The clothes look really simple, almost styled after the ancient Romans or Greeks. It leaves you thinking it's wearing plain sandals or flip flops for shoes. Why did he sculpt it with its hands over its face? Yet he took the time to make sure the hands look real. You can even see individual hairs on its head. Then there are the restraints, so what is he trying to tell us? I mean the restraints aren't part of the sculpture and were added later. So did he forget them? Did he add them later and why?
"Or maybe it was a few teenagers who thought it was funny to put restraints on it. Instead of using paint they did this," Rick suggested even though it was he who had done it. He was actually there to see if it had moved at all since he had secured it in place. He needed to learn if it could free itself quickly.
Kate added her own observation. "The wings make it different from all the others." None of the others in the area had wings.
"Almost makes you think its an angel with wings. But why is it so bashful that it has to cover its face?" Rick chuckled softly and noticed that it got her to smile a little. He held out his hand. "I'm Rick."
She took it. "Kate." She held onto his hand and now she really looked at him. He was clearly easy on the eyes and she liked the look of his blue eyes. He had broad shoulders and he was taller than she was even sitting next to her.
"So what do you think the sculpture is trying to tell us?" Rick wasn't anxious to let go of her hand and he needed to keep her interested in sitting next to him.
Kate had never been that philosophical about anything. She was more of a down-to-earth type of person. She made a snap decision to say what she knew was the truth but would be characterized as being impossible. "Maybe it's an alien that crashed here and now it's lost."
"That's very good!" Rick was impressed. She had a sense of humor and was willing to think outside of the box. "What do you do for a living? A writer perhaps?"
Kate laughed a little. "No, I'm a singer. Though your idea that someone has messed with it sounds more likely." His idea of it being teenagers was plausible.
"Pity, I kind of like your idea better. It shows imagination." He moved slightly closer. "A singer, huh? A name I would know?" Was he sitting next to someone famous and still holding her hand?
Kate fought the blush that threatened to bloom. "No, I'm basically a nobody. I mostly sing in little clubs." Little clubs were all she had ever sung in all her life. She never made much money. It was mostly just a cover for what she really did and that was to steal information.
"I seriously doubt that you're a nobody." She was far too pretty for that. Rick lifted his hand and hers with it so he could kiss her hand softly. "I would love to stay and talk but I have an appointment. Perhaps we could meet here again tomorrow? Same time?"
Kate didn't need to think about that. "That would be nice." It had been a long time since anyone for any reason had kissed her hand.
They finally separated and Kate had her hand back and found that she missed the contact. She watched him walk away. "Nice ass, too." To go with everything else she had liked about him. "I forgot to look for a ring!" Kate was slipping and that couldn't be allowed to keep happening.
With Rick gone she got up to look over the statue with a little more detail. They were indeed handcuffs and looked to be on its wrists tight. Kate made sure to keep her eyes open as she looked down as the shackles. These looked a little more old school and there was a bolt of some kind in the concrete holding the chains in place.
Kate backed off before looking around. There were too many people around. Maybe it was her time from being a German spy that prevented her from changing forms and burning the restraints off of it. It was just that if she did she would bring attention to herself. Plus she really didn't know all that much about the year 2012.
"I'll be back to free you," Kate told it and planed on being back there hours from now when it was really dark. Just long enough to burn away the restraints and then fly off before going home.
She walked away and passed people going the opposite direction so turning her back on it was clearly safe. Between them seeing it and the restraints she was betting it couldn't move no matter how fast it was.
She was on her way home and already thinking about what she was going to wear tomorrow for her meeting with Rick. She even wondered what he would think when the restraints were gone. Maybe even the statue itself would be gone.
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"Okay, so why am I here?" Janelle asked Rick as they both stood in the middle of the mess that was still her courtyard. "And where did the kittens come from? I don't remember anything about you having pets." She hadn't yet decided if she was willing to allow him to have pets.
"I'm fostering them for a short time. I've only paid for a year and they'll be gone long before that time. Plus they'll be staying out here and not inside so any mess they make they make out here. This is Huey, Dewey, and Louie." Rick thought they were cute and so far they were working out for him.
"You named them after a cartoon." She was a little surprised as well as a little amused. "Besides the kittens, why am I here?" She saw the big hole in the ground and all of the materials that were stacked all over the place.
"I have a plan and since this is your house I wanted to run it past you before it became too late," he explained and watched her simply watch him. "There's going to be a mural on the wall that I'm going to paint. It'll be shades of gray and white. The mural's going to be an angel with big white wings. I'm still working on the pose so I can't tell you much about that.
"Once it's complete I'm going to build a short wall between the mural and the pit. Then I'm going to put that pile of dirt from the hole into that area. In that area I'm going to plant a few construction grade bamboo plants. The stalks will be four to six inches in diameter and up to sixty-seven feet tall. A little over thirty feet above the wall." That was the part Rick wasn't sure she would go for.
"Why bamboo? Why not plant trees or something?" So far she didn't have a problem with his plan. She actually liked the idea of the angel.
"I want something that won't hide the mural but will provide something that you have to look past to see it. The stalks of bamboo will do that. A tree, especially a young tree, will conceal it for years and bamboo grows really fast.
"Then this pit is going to be filled with water that will be two to three feet deep. In the water there are going to be two or maybe three concrete squares that will each have a small fire pit in the middle. I'm thinking something simple like a can filled with an alcohol-like substance. You just fill the can and light it when you want a flame.
"Where we're standing is where I'm going to put the pavers that were already out here back in place. Only this time I'm going to put down a layer of gravel so that they don't heave up out of the ground. They'll be nice and level all year long. Then you can buy and put in some patio furniture and actually enjoy the space." Rick finished explaining his plan, hoping for her approval.
"Oh, and reuse the pots and put plants in them as well. I'm thinking mostly flowers to give the space a burst of color. It should be all amazing to look at. If you want you might even be able to put fish in the pond. Maybe even a few water plants for them." Rick was finally done.
Janelle thought it over. She broke it down and looked at him. "An angel, bamboo, pond, fire pits, pavers, furniture, and flowers in pots. And you do work for the FBI and police and not as a landscape designer?" She was sure he was in the wrong line of business.
She let him sweat it for a moment. "It sounds absolutely breathtaking, Rick. I approve and you can keep the cats. Just so long as you keep them out of the house." She pointed her finger at him. "I don't want them pooping and peeing all over my house."
Rick raised his hand. "I promise. It should look stunning; you're going to love it." He was glad she liked his plan.
"I thought you were trying to get me to move to Hawaii or something?" If this worked out her place would be even better than it already was.
"Oh, I am, I most definitely am. If you like this just wait until you see Hawaii! It's going to be hundreds of times better. You'll see. Just think, living on a beach all day. Bronze-skinned men who all want to date you. Sunshine and green plants and flowers all over the place. No more concrete, no more taxis, no more pollution. The air will smell clean and fresh all day long. You're going to love it." Rick was still selling it to her. Janelle stared at him since she was still skeptical. New York was home and had been since she was a little girl.
Rick saw that look. "Challenge accepted." He was going to win, he was sure of it. He just needed to get her to go on a vacation there to see what living there would be like instead of living here. He had won her over with his courtyard design so he would win this as well.
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It was really late at night. Approximately two thirty in the morning. Kate had two things planned for tonight. First she had to get rid of the body. So she shifted into her Dark Phoenix form that was almost all fire. You could still see her body, it was just that instead of skin and hair it was all fire.
She streaked out into the night and applied her power to turn the body into ash and allowed what remained to just float away with the wind. Next she headed for the park where she'd met Rick.
She was looking forward to seeing him again and maybe, just maybe, actually going out on a date with him. She hadn't been on a real date in a very long time. Sure she had gone out with men on dates, but they were meant to gain access to them so she could steal what she wanted. She'd even had sex with a few of them to get what she wanted.
Perhaps if she actually liked him she might bring him home with her and fuck his brains out. If he turned out to be actually any good in bed she might start planning on how to make him her sex slave and keep him.
Now, though, she had a job to do. She landed not far away from the statue with the restraints. It mostly looked just like she remembered it looking. It did look like it had been testing the restraints that held its legs. The concrete in the area had a few cracks.
"You might actually manage to free yourself after some time working at it. How about a little help?" While still keeping an eye on it she pointed her finger and shot a tight beam of fire at the chain where it was secured by a bolt or stake of some type.
It took a few minutes until it finally gave way since it really was strong. It meant there were still shackles around its ankles with a chain dangling from each of them. However, now it was free to move.
"Now for the handcuffs." Kate pointed her finger at the chain that connected them and held her beam of fire until they finally broke. "There you're free. You can thank me later." Kate started backing up and broke the first rule: she blinked.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" It was now just a few inches away from her and its hands were almost touching her. Its face looked angry and its mouth was open and filled with teeth. "You sure you're not a vampire with those teeth?"
Kate concentrated on not blinking and looked it over closely. Now that it had actually moved it looked more like a living statue now than it had previously.
She needed to get away from it without being touched. "Let's see if you can fly just as fast as you can move." Kate spread her fiery wings wide and while keeping her eyes on it, flew up until she couldn't see it clearly any longer. Then she kicked it into overdrive and flew away. Anyone who saw her would see a streak of fire racing across the night sky.
Following the fiery creature was out and it knew it. Up there even in the night sky someone might spot it and it would fall to the ground or at least until it was no longer seen. Chasing after whoever had released it was out. Still since now that it was free it could move to find someone to touch and gain power. The more power it gained the stronger it would become.
There were only a few of her bothers and sisters on this planet. However, if they all became powerful enough, they could summon more of their kind. It might take decades or even centuries, but someday this planet would be theirs to do with as they pleased.
After all, their kind lived forever.