Taken In Again
Disclaimer: It's a fanfiction, what do you expect? I own whatever wasn't invented already.
It was a Friday…Friday, February 13th to be exact. The day before Valentines Day.
I was going to the mall with my mom to go shopping. It was a cold morning…10:00 a.m., considering the fact that my mom likes to get up early on her shopping days…and the two of us were turning the corner of the stone building to the entrance when I spotted a familiar figure.
There, back against the wall of the grey stone, was Rodney Skinner having a morning smoke. His right leg bent, pushing his foot against the stone as clouds of nicotine-filled smoke infiltrated the air. He looked up as we approached him, and I stopped as well… with a curious look on both our faces...my mom and I, that is.
"Rodney?"
"Uh…hi."
"What are you doing here?"
"Alisha…who's this?" my mom's guarded voice crumbled through our ears as my secret came to a tight close.
"This…is Rodney. He's a friend of mine from school."
Although Rodney didn't look any near age to be a student, he didn't look normal either. This threw her off a bit.
"Nice to meet you." Rodney held out his gloved hand to my mother, who warily grasped in return. I knew what she was thinking. Rodney was an old creeper who smoked and I shouldn't hang out with him.
Oh…but if you knew the rest…I thought.
"Oh, well…Tom's on the inside. He's lookin' for a Valentines Day gift for Mina. He brought me along to help…but…"
"But here you are, outside takin' a smoke." I cut him off. He shrugged.
"I'm not that big of a help anyway."
"Hmm. Do you know if he's had any luck?"
"Doubt it. Last time I checked he was looking at some kiosk selling miniature fountains."
I gave him a blank stare.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me. Fountains? That boy is never going to make a good impression! He might as well buy her a moldy sandwich!"
Rodney looked at me strangely like he didn't get the joke. "Heh?"
"Never mind." I suddenly realized that my mother was still standing next to me.
"You don't mind…do you?"
She sighed. "Go ahead…keep your cell phone on so I can call you."
"Right." I grabbed Rodney by the hand, and pulled him in a rush, causing him to drop his cigarette and grab his hat from blowing off.
"Where is he?" I said when we swiftly got inside.
"How should I know?" Rodney looked at me obviously.
"Oh…right." We both thought of the portaleiver. I took it out, and the screen showed a small red flashing light in the blueprints of the mall.
"It says he's in Sears." That wasn't too far away.
"Then lets go." He said.
When we caught him looking at small cheap watches in boxes, he seemed surprised to see me there with Rodney.
"Catch some extra help?" he said.
"She came to me."
Tom shrugged.
I walked up to Tom and took the box from his hands, a Hannah Montana watch for about a five year old. I couldn't get the look off my face.
"You have got to be kidding me." My eyes shifted to his embarrassed gaze.
"I wasn't gonna get this for her. It's just that I can't seem to figure out what to get, so I've just seem to give up and pick up anything…thinking nothing of it…" He looked so worthless I felt so bad.
"Well gee Tom, you could have had the idea to ask a woman about what a woman would want for Valentines Day."
He looked up to me. "Yeah…that makes sense." He cracked a smile.
"Right…well…every woman is different. And if you want to make a statement, it's not gonna be from Sears, I can tell you that right now." I led them both out of the store, putting the watch back in its rightful place.
"Alright. Now…Mina's a vampire. She's dark but lovely…shadowy yet proper. So something elegant like jewelry would suit her well I think, right?" I looked to Tom. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Something big that makes a statement…something that says 'You deserve the best and this is perfect for your graceful beauty', but not 'I'm gonna spoil you like crazy with jewels'. The jewel should be dark…like ruby. Yes! Ruby…red like blood. It's perfect! C'mon! Let's get to the nearest jewelry store."
I ran inside the nearest Jared and scanned the glass cases. I spotted the most perfect ruby necklace for Mina. Its design was thick and draping…surely divine for one such as herself. I was proud to call myself a help for Tom.
"There…that one right there." I pointed to the large ruby necklace shining behind the glass. The man behind the counter stared intently at his possible customer.
"Alisha…" Tom rushed up to me and started to shake his head. "Are you kidding? I can't afford something like that!"
I pursed my lips, thinking of the possibilities. I turned to the man behind the counter.
"Excuse me sir, what would be the price of this divine ruby necklace, here?"
"Oh…interested in that piece, are you? Our queen ruby collar comes to be one thousand dollars this evening."
I gulped slightly…Tom cleared his throat loudly.
"Thank you. Will you give us a minute?" I smiled sweetly to the man.
"Of course." He walked away to another customer.
I turned my heels to Tom's 'I-told-you-so' face, and Rodney's 'Leave-me-out-of-it' expression.
"Alright we have two options." I said very quickly. "Number one…" I slowly turned my head to Rodney. It took few seconds for them to get the idea.
"Whoa! No way, Alisha, are you crazy? We can't have Rodney jack the thing!"
I looked at Rodney for a few more seconds before I figured it wasn't the best idea after all.
"Yeah you're right." I turned back to Tom, leaning back a bit on my heels. The man looked over to us with curious eyes.
"What's behind door number two?" Tom asked. "Is it legal?"
"I think so…" I was being completely serious, which gave Tom a warning.
"Oh, god. What does it involve?"
"Me, Rodney, and some equipment."
The two of them stared at me curiously. They didn't seem to get it.
"I can magically supply the equipment."
Their expressions didn't shift.
I sighed. "Come with me." Before we left the store, I shouted to the salesman, "Keep that thing up for sale for us, will 'ya?" The man nods a single nod.
I skit inside a store and hid behind the racks of clothing…changing through the transformation. I ran back out, bumping into Rodney and Tom.
"What's going on? What's this big idea of yours?" Tom impatiently asked.
"Come with me!" I continued, and jogged all around the mall until I found a large empty area, no contest cars, kiosks, or benches around.
"Alright. What are we?" I stopped to ask as they caught up.
"Uh…a lot of things."
"I mean the three of us, Henry, Mina, Nemo and Allan."
"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?"
"Exactly!"
Neither of them got the idea.
"Ugh. Look. If you were a normal person shopping in the mall, wouldn't you pay money to…"
"To see an extraordinary show…I see now." Tom's voice was half interested, half exhausted.
"I don't know about that, Alisha. Exposing us is a big deal…even if it'll get Mina a nice Valentines Day gift."
"People here think of these things as 'magic shows'. Nothing will happen. I promise."
Tom gave a very long, very slow sigh. "Fine." He said stubbornly.
"Great!" With that, I turned my heels and walked to our new 'center stage'. With a swift snap, a microphone appeared in my hand. I tossed it to Tom, and he caught it clumsily. I signaled for Rodney to come join me. As soon as Tom turned on the switch, I snapped my fingers once more, speakers appearing all around us.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention." Tom's voice boomed through the area. Almost everyone turned their heads in response to the sudden noise.
"Uh…may I introduce to you the amazing invisible man and his assistant, the beautiful and majestic Ms. Dover!" He waved his arm to us.
Assistant?
Rodney began to undress himself, the crowd roaring with whispers and amazement as invisible flesh was shown…or not shown for that matter.
Once Rodney was fully invisible, the crowd roared as he picked me up and I rose above the ground magically. Tom held out his brown sheepskin hat and people began to fill it up immediately with several twenties and fifties. As Rodney threw me up in the air, I flipped forward, landing on the ground. Rodney put his coat back on, showing the audience the actuality of their sight.
For about a half hour Rodney and I impressed the stunned and diverted crowd with our extraordinary abilities while Tom received loads of cash. I did many a flips and impressive magic, moving and appearing several objects. I raised my body above the ground several feet, and Rodney continued to move things around him being completely invisible.
It wasn't long before the cops arrived.
They appeared through the crowd, pushing their selves past the mobs of cheers. Tom's face lit up with fear, grabbing on to the money and running to warn us.
"Time to go!" he shouted over everyone's cheers and shouts. As soon as we realized the dilemma, I lowered myself down, Rodney grabbed his clothes, and we jolted off in escape. Three mall cops chased after us; however we seemed to be faster than them, so they were a bit far from us.
We were halfway out the mall when an idea struck me.
"Tom…how much did we make?"
"Uh…" Tom gave the wad of money a glance with a confused look. Why would it matter now?
"Give it to me."
I took the money and counted as we ran. I could see the jewelry store up ahead…and I jolted in, surprising Tom and Rodney. Their expressions were hard and confused; eyebrows knit together and frowns slit on their faces. We walked in unseen by the cops; we seemed to have lost them by the outrun.
"Still have that necklace, sir?" I fast walked to that same man behind the counter, who looked up in revelation.
"Why yes…"
"We'd like to purchase it, please."
He was too slow for our pace.
He took the necklace out of the glass case as I hurriedly counted the money and signaled Tom and Rodney to hide within the store, straying away from the entrance. With the money we made and the money we had on us, luckily we had made the right amount, and even more.
He placed the necklace gently in a box, wrapped it in a bag, and had barely enough time to say "That will be a thousand dollars, please" before I cut him off, basically throwing the money at his face.
He counted the money easily, for there was quite an amount of high bills, handed us the receipt, and after looking both ways to see if the coast was clear, we dashed out of the doorway. However, a policeman spotted us from the second floor and signaled to all other policemen our whereabouts. We dashed through the halls and into Macy's, pushing people out of our way. I caught a glimpse of my mother standing there with shopping bags in her arms, and showing a horrified look as we passed her, evading out through the doors and into the parking lot. When we hid behind a building with no one to see us, I took out the portaleiver, and the three of us went through to the year 1900.
---
I stayed in the Nautilus on the night of Valentines Day. When I got inside my cabin, I was getting tired enough, basically ready to fall asleep. I was in my pajamas and about to crawl into bed when I noticed the many gifts waiting on my vanity. I got up with a huge grin on my face, making my way over to grasp the beautiful things before me. Placed on the center all the gifts lay a glass vase, holding a dozen fresh red roses. I smelt them, inhaling the lovely scent of romance. A card lay on the base of the vase. It said that they were from Rodney, if I hadn't guessed already. A rectangle wrapped in brown paper, and tied with string hid behind the roses. I opened it up, and realized it was from Nemo, being another type of journal or book it seemed. At first I didn't even see the yellow daffodils, my favorite flower, to the right of Rodney's vase. They lay there almost in a shy manner…not being a romantic or expensive gift, but enough to make me love them more than anything else I'd received.
And sure enough, they were from Henry.
You know it makes me think…that Rodney gave me roses…the more loving and traditional type of flower…but Henry gave me daffodils, when I'd never told him nor anybody that they were my favorite. So what's better? The dreamy romance or the happiness? Shouldn't the romance be happy? Or is that in its own category?
I think I was getting the feeling that it was.
Just then, I heard a knock at my door. Tom walked in with a shy look on his face and I greeted him with a smile as he handed me a small black velvet box.
"What's this?"
He looked up, giving a small grin.
"Something for helping me out."
I opened up the box, and inside were a pair of the most beautiful pair of earrings I've ever saw. Four petals of gorgeous silver with diamond and canary jewels suspended several thin strips of the same gems, glistening in every way with classy sparkles blinding my expression.
"Tom…they're beautiful! But how…"
"There was a little extra money left over from the eh…performance."
I looked at him blankly. "I thought I'd use it to buy you something nice for Valentines Day, as a thanks."
"Wow…thank you, Tom."
He smiled.
"Oh! So what did Mina say?"
Tom sighed. "I was about to give it to her, after I gave you your gift."
"Oh…well good luck."
"Thanks."
When Tom left, my mind whirled with wonder at the beautiful earrings and the flowers and Nemo's book…but more importantly I intently waited to know every detail of what happened with Tom and Mina. How much I wished I had Rodney's power, to spy on their actions unseen. But as much as I wanted to do it and probably could, I crawled into bed tiredly and fell asleep…feeling loved by a league.