It was now almost 9p.m. and Tara had spent the entire afternoon with Warren Peace. A month ago the two of them hardly spoke a word to each other, now they were walking hand in hand to Warren's front yard. When they reached the yard, they promptly let go of each other's hands and smiled at each other.
"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then?" Tara asked as she slowly walked towards her own yard.
"Guess so." He said with a slight smile on his face. "See ya Langley."
"See ya Peace." She responded as she went to her front door.
Tara walked into her front door with a smile on her face, but quickly got rid of it when she saw her father in the hallway. Her father rarely ever got angry, most recently was last week, but the look on his face was definitely anger.
"Room, now." Was all that he said. Though the look on his face said there was much more to come. Especially when Tara saw her brother coming down the staircase as she went up. His face was completely blank, as was his mind when she tried to read it. Tara knew something was up.
Tara sat in her room, trying to listen in on her dad and brother's conversation. Unfortunately, all she heard was silence. This had to mean that they had used Luke's old sanctum. A question now arose, why would they need to use the sanctum to talk? What were they up to?
After a few hours of waiting, for what she was sure would be the longest lecture her father had ever given, Tara found herself drifting off to sleep. She didn't sleep well. Half of the night she was tossing and turning, the other half she was waking up from the weirdest dreams and she didn't know why. When she awoke completely the next morning, she hadn't the vaguest idea what she had dreamt.
As Tara dressed for school and went downstairs, she was still expecting to meet up with her father and hear what he had to say to her. However, when she made it to the kitchen, she found a letter on the table from her father. It said that he'd gone into work early and that they'd talk after school. He wished her a good day and said he loved her that was it.
'What the hell is going on around here?' she thought to herself, as she poured her bowl of cereal and sat down to eat. She began to try and figure out what was going on but had no luck.
It was weird. First, there was her brother and father using the sanctum last night to talk. Secondly, there was her father not coming up to talk to her. Thirdly, and strangest of all, the fact that the house was completely empty, on a school day, and at six friggin thirty in the morning! That kind of thing NEVER happened in the Langley household. Tara quickly finished her bowl of Lucky Charms, grabbed her school bag, and ran out the door hoping that she wouldn't miss the bus.
When she arrived at the bus stop something else strange occurred to her. Someone was missing. The one person who had always caused the uncomfortable silences, who always seemed to somehow cause her to power up even on the days she wasn't even fully awake, the one person who was now suddenly the most interesting in Tara's mind. Warren Peace was not at the bus stop. This was the second weirdest thing of the day, and Tara had a feeling it was going to get worse.
The ride to school was just as it always was. Tara sat beside her best friend Cassidy, nodding and agreeing at the appropriate times. When the bus arrived at school, she got off, went straight to her locker, and then headed to her first class. Mad Science was a complete bore, as usual, and Tara didn't even pay attention to anything Medulla was saying. She stared into space the whole time, still trying to figure out why her day was so irregular.
At lunch, she sat at her usual table, not even noticing that Magenta, Zack, and Layla were at Warren's table. She almost didn't even realize when her own friends spoke to her.
"Tara!?" Mariette called to her, waving a hand in front of her friend's face. "You in there today girl?"
"Oh, sorry Mar. Spaced a bit." Tara replied as she tried her best to stay focused.
"Spaced is putting it mildly." Mariette said. "You've been like this in all our classes!"
"I know, I'm sorry." Tara replied. "I didn't sleep well last night."
"Those crazy dreams again?" Cassidy asked. Tara nodded then Cassidy replied, "I thought your dad said those would stop after the first month?"
"Guess they didn't." Tara said to cover the slight lie she'd just told. "So, what were you saying Cass?"
"What was I saying?" Cassidy responded, looking deep in thought. "Oh, Right! Guess who asked me to homecoming?!"
"Who, Ethan?" Tara replied, realizing he also wasn't in his usual place.
"No no no no!" Cassidy replied, in a much too happy tone. "Demitri did! Can you believe it?! I didn't even know he liked me like that! But he did, right before lunch actually! He came up to me after class and asked if I wanted to go with him!"
"Really Cass?! Oh I'm so happy for you!" Tara said, putting on a happy face even though her mind was still off. She really was happy for her friend though. Tara had been waiting for years to get her brother and best friend together. She was glad that it had finally happened.
"So you still haven't talked your dad into letting you off of house arrest?" Cassidy asked as she took a bite of her pizza.
"No, he's still being the never-sway-tyrant he always is when I'm grounded." Tara responded, also starting on her food.
"It really is too bad." Mariette said. "This is our first Homecoming at Sky High, you'd figure he'd give you some slack."
"Nope." Tara said as she shrugged and told the false reason for being grounded. "Guess I shouldn't have broken curfew I guess."
"Five minutes though!" Cassidy responded. "Don't you think he was a little harsh?"
"Yeah, but you know my dad's always been strict." Tara replied. "Its too bad mom's on that business trip though, bet I could've gotten her to take off the grounding."
"Yeah." Cassidy said just as the bell rang. The three of them gathered their bags and started to go their separate ways. Cassidy turned to Tara at the door and quickly added, "By the way, I'm going home with Mar today so she can do my hair tomorrow, so I won't be on the bus, k?"
"No problem." Tara said with a smile, realizing that now she'd get to talk to Warren if he was riding home. "I'm sure I'll find something to entertain myself with."
The rest of the day went by as slow as ever, mainly because Tara was wanting so badly for school to be over so that she could talk to Warren. Unfortunately, when she got to Power Training, she hadn't seen him in class so now part of her doubted he'd even come to school. Her doubt quickly disappeared, however, when she saw his red streaked hair turning a corner after class.
Tara quickly made her way around the corner and grabbed his jacket just before he'd turned into class. Unfortunately for her, that small gesture set him into anger mode. Warren quickly flamed his arms up and turned to face Langley.
"Cool off Peace." Tara said, flaming up her own hands in defense. She powered down as he did and continued, "It's just me."
Warren made a face, but tried to change it to a smile quickly. "Hey."
"Um, hey." Tara said, noticing the odd expression. "Mind if we ditch? I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Sure. Whatever." He said flatly as he re-adjusted his bag and followed Tara to the back of the school. The two of them walked down the small side walk and sat down by the tree that Tara and her friends usually sat around.
"What do you want?" Warren said in just as flat a tone as he'd had in the hallway.
"What the hell is your problem Peace?" Tara said confusedly. "Something crawl up your ass this morning?"
"No, Langley." Warren said through his teeth. Tara clearly hit a nerve, which made her smirk for a second.
"Then what did I do to make you act so sour towards me?" Tara asked.
"Nothing." Warren said. "Its, its not something you did. Just something that your brother was saying this morning."
"And what was that?" Tara asked, very interested in the response.
Warren sighed, as if he thought it was stupid to have to repeat it. "He was talking to his friends, saying that your dad was a genius. Getting you to get in my head. That Brain Storm always knew that my dad taught me about guards and that through you he'd be able to continue the plan he'd had years ago. He said that you were the family Secret Weapon. Basically he said that I'm just a play toy for you. I don't even think he knew I was there."
Tara cracked up laughing, and laughed even harder when she saw his reaction to this. "Wait, you're serious aren't you?"
He nodded his head in response.
"My brother is a fuckin nutcase! And you believed him!" she said, still laughing but now beginning to calm down. "Well, now this explains why they used the sanctum last night."
"What do you mean?" Warren asked, glad to not have to be angry anymore. He did have a slight feeling all that he'd heard was bullshit, at least now it was confirmed.
"Last night, when we went home?" Tara started to explain. "When I walked in the house, dad sent me to my room. I knew he was pissed and would probly lecture me. Anyway, on my way upstairs I passed Demitri and his mind was blank. I tried later to listen in on his and dad's conversation but I got absolutely nothing. That had to have meant that they used dad's old sanctum thing. It's the only place in the house that is completely protected against mine and dad's ability. He and mom used it when we were little to talk about birthdays and stuff because they never knew which one of us would end up inheriting dad's power.
"So, yeah. I'd bet a month's allowance that they were talking about ways to get to you so that you'd leave me alone or something." She continued. "I don't know why but whatever."
"You seriously don't know why?" Warren replied, as if the answer was obvious.
"Well, I mean besides the whole parental war thing going on between our dads." She said, realizing what he was talking about. "But I don't know why they'd try to go through so much trouble. They know how stubborn I can be."
"So, uh, you goin to Homecoming?" Warren asked, trying his best to make it sound like a casual question.
"Grounded remember?" Tara replied, hiding her surprise from the question. "Complete house arrest."
"So?" he said. "Sneak out. Isn't that what we teenagers are supposed to be doing now a days?"
"Great point there, but you don't have a parent who can know every move you make when you think it." Tara said.
"Touché." Warren replied as her point was just as good as his.
"It really is too bad though." Tara replied. "I'm gonna miss seeing Cass and my brother finally together."
"Yeah." he said. "Dances aren't really my thing anyway. Too overrated."
"I know." She agreed. "But still it would've been nice. Nobody even asked me. Bet Demitri had something to do with that."
"Hmm." Was the only response that Warren had. Fortunately it was enough, because right then the bell signaling the end of the day's classes went off. He then stood up and grabbed his bag. "See ya Langley. Can't miss my ride."
"Bye." Tara said, realizing that his statement meant he wasn't riding the bus after all. Good thing though, because when she made it to the bus the first person she saw was her brother, so she sat by him.
"Demitri!" She said, putting on her best false happy face. "Where were you this morning?"
"Dad took me to school since he left early." Demitri responded.
"Why didn't you guys wake me up?" Tara said with a fake pout.
"Tried T, you'd sleep through a tornado siren if it were in your room!" he lied, clearly trying to make it a joke.
"Ha, ha, funny." Tara said. "Oh, I heard you asked Cass to homecoming. Took you guys long enough"
"Yeah, I did." Demitri said shortly.
"What made you change your mind?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Demitri just shrugged and replied. "I just did."
The rest of the ride was spent in silence, as it seemed that her brother didn't want to speak much. When the two got to their stop, the walk home was just as quiet.