A/N: Alright, so I know that I've been pretty terrible at regularly updating this story, but I DO have a pretty good reason why. My first two books, "The King's First Journey" and "The Paladin's Choice" are being published! They'll be out in a couple weeks, and I've been extremely busy editing and working on publication. I haven't given up on the story, however, and will definitely continue, just be patient with me! Thank you so much to those still reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy.
Chapter Four: Dessometrics, Lesson One
Brett Keith tossed his letterman's jacket aside and grabbed the new football.
"One! Two! Three!" he heard Alison shouting as she ran through her new routine.
He blocked her shouting and examined the goal-post. 50.1032 yards exactly. The line was a bit off, but it was what they used in the game. He did the math in his mind, using the post and the post's shadow cast by the moon, and threw. Garret suddenly blinked back to visibility at the endzone, and caught it easily.
"Nice one, buddy!" Garret shouted as he ran back. "Hey, who knew math would be so cool in football, huh?"
"Yeah," Brett muttered. He still found it weird how quickly the calculations flitted through his head.
"Bet if we keep this up we'll crush Piedra Vista next week. Perfect passes every time."
"Yeah, if I don't get suspended from the team."
"What for? You were only failing math, now that's no problem."
"Mr. Barton thinks I'm cheating."
"Take a new test by yourself, prove it."
"Yeah, that will happen."
"Hey!" a sharp voice shouted down to the football field.
Brett, Alison, and Garret spun around, looking to the cover on the bleachers. Carrie was crouched on the roof, a boy none of them recognized standing next to her.
"What does she want? She doesn't talk to us," Allison huffed as she ran to stand next to Brett. "It's bad enough she has to be in this totally rad time with us, she doesn't have to keep bugging us about it."
"What?" Garret shouted.
The new kid and Carrie leapt off the rooftop and landed lightly on the ground. Brett felt his stomach flip. He hated to see anyone jumping like that, it defied every law of nature.
"What do you want? I thought you told us not to talk to you," Allison remarked.
"Don't think I came here on my own, Barbie, I'm under duress," she grumbled, nodding to the new boy. He stepped forward a bit and extended his hand.
"My name's Jonathan. My friend Melissa and my girlfriend Jessica are waiting for us at Madison Sachet's house. We have to talk to all of you."
"And you are?" Garret questioned.
"We're people who know what's going on here, and we know some things that may save your life."
"Don't be so melodramatic," Allison remarked.
"He's not," Carrie snapped. "James Howell was almost killed by some freakish monster last night and Madison was almost kidnapped by some old creeper acrobat and his friends."
"Acrobat?" Brett inquired.
"Someone like me," she remarked.
"Wait, James Howell? Christian's brother?" Garret questioned.
"Yeah," Carrie responded.
"Well is he okay?"
"He's fine, but just barely. These guys know what they're talking about, I think. They saved James' life, and the guys who tried to kidnap Madison almost seemed scared of them."
A sudden grumble behind the stadium caught their attention, sending shivers of fear along their spines.
"Uh, maybe we should go meet these people," Allison whispered.
"Yeah, let's go," Brett agreed.
"Take my hands," Jonathan called, offering his hands to whoever would take them. "Carrie will take whoever's left. We'll jump you to the house."
"And let her drop me?" Allison remarked as she took Jonathan's hand. "I don't think so."
"Oh gosh, Ally, don't be such a brat," Garret remarked as he took Carrie's hand.
"Jump us? You mean, you're going to fly us there?" Brett muttered, goosebumps forming along his arms.
"What, you're not scared, are you?" Garret dared.
"No," Brett instantly rebutted, taking Jonathan's hand. He gasped as he was instantly flooded with an intense feeling of weightlessness. Allison chuckled.
"All right, hold on tight, and jump when I tell you to."
Brett nodded.
"Alright," Allison agreed. "Let's go."
Brett stepped cautiously into the house, feeling awkward at walking into someone else's home in the middle of the night.
"We're back," Jonathan called.
Brett had only seen Madison every now and then in the hallways. He thought he might have had a class with her once, but it was a while ago. He saw her sitting on an overstuffed leather couch in the living room, a pair of headphones over her ears. He thought she used to have long hair, but it was now cut around her face.
Nicole was sitting cross-legged on the floor across from the Howell twins, James sitting in a reclining chair and Christian on the chair's armrest. Christian got up and grabbed Garret's hand, bumping shoulders.
"Hey bud, I heard about your brother last night, that's crazy scary," Garret announced.
"Yeah but he's fine now thanks to this bunch," he indicated Jonathan with his thumb and a red-haired girl who sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder and holding his hand. She must be his girlfriend, Jessica.
"Everyone sit down," a new girl ordered as she walked in. She wore a black top and skirt, her hair only an inch or so long. "That means you to, Madison."
Madison rolled her eyes and slid off the couch to the floor. By the blare of the music coming from Madison's headphones, Brett didn't know how she heard the goth girl.
"Everyone sit in a circle, hold hands," the goth girl continued.
"Who are we going to contact from the other side?" Garret laughed. The goth girl glared at him.
"Just do it," she remarked. "We don't have much time."
"Who are you?" Allison questioned searchingly.
"You'll know soon enough."
The entire group formed into a circle, holding each other's hands. The goth girl sat down, keeping her hands in her lap. "Everyone relax and do not let go. If you feel someone's hands slipping, keep a firm grip. You need this, though it goes against my better judgment."
"What's going on?" Allison stated.
"She's going to mess with our brains," Madison announced.
Everyone looked at each other nervously, but the girl simply grabbed Madison and James' hands and Brett instantly felt something change in his mind. He gasped, the presence overwhelming as it stuffed new information into his mind. Giant monsters creeping through the darkness, their shrieks of pain echoing through the desert at the sting of new metal glowing with a thirteen letter name. Loneliness, fear, the constant threat of being discovered. A lightning bolt flashing through the sky. Slithers, Darklings, thirteen, acrobats, seers, polymaths, firebringers, mindcasters... It went so fast he could barely tell what was happening, let alone what she was putting in his mind.
In an instant it was over, the goth girl he now knew as Melissa tossed James' and Madison's hands aside, rubbing her palms nervously together, her face pale. Brett sat back with a gasp, his head still spinning almost uncontrollably. He sighed and slowly tried to calculate pi until his thoughts reorganized themselves.
"What was that?" Allison demanded as she ran her fingers nervously through her hair, though Brett knew she just hadn't let her new knowledge sink in yet.
"Oh gosh, this is serious," James muttered, leaning forward, rubbing the bridge of his nose where his new glasses were rubbing against his skin.
"It is serious, and while there's a lot sinking into your little brains now, I haven't shown you everything. You need to train, you need to learn a lot in a very short time," Melissa announced, a small quiver in her voice. Something about her little lesson had been painful to her.
Garret huffed "Why do I get the feeling Big Blue suddenly turned into school?"
"Because it did," Madison grumbled.
Brett watched everything in silence, sorting through his thoughts. Everything made more sense now, and at the same time, the fact that this world had existed for so long seriously unnerved him. Numbers flitted through his head, uncontrollably, and he knew they weren't his own. Images of another polymath, her memories seemingly floating above his own. She would hate knowing that Melissa had given him a part of Dess' memories... Dess... the name suddenly fit into place. Someone like him.
Melissa looked over at him with a bit of a warning glance and Madison rolled her eyes. He would have to watch his thoughts... nothing was private anymore.
"Some of you have mentors, we can teach you personally, but others don't. Melissa has memories of old Midnighters like you, but we don't have living people like you."
"Yep. Ally, Nicky and I are the odd ducks here," Garret chuckled. "Mental mentoring?"
"We'll work something out," Melissa grumbled.
"I'll teach Carrie, Jessica will take Christian, Melissa and Madison need each other anyway, and James... well, he may have to be with Melissa as well. I don't know if Rex is really the right teacher for a new Midnighter at the moment."
"And what about me?" Brett called softly.
"You are lucky," Melissa announced as she got up and grabbed one of Madison's laptops, tossing it to him. "Dess has her own site, her own chat. Get ready for online classes."
Brett stared down at the computer awkwardly. More classes? He had enough of a sense of Dess' personality that he knew she wouldn't be the most patient of teachers...
"Oh stop fretting, jock boy," Madison remarked.
"This doesn't work during Big Blue," he muttered.
Madison rolled her eyes. "In the morning, idiot."
"Wow, someone got some bite, you were never like this, Maddy," Carrie chuckled.
"She's been spending too much time in Melissa's brain," Garret announced with a ghostly wave of his fingers.
Madison rolled her eyes.
Tomorrow morning Dess is starting her online class. About five or six polymaths are involved. You'll miss homeroom," Melissa announced in a no-nonsense voice.
"Miss homeroom? If they find out I'm skipping they could kick me off the team!" Brett argued.
He quailed under Melissa's glare. "Who do you think you are now? You know the basics, you know what's at stake... Football should be the least of your worries."
Brett glanced at the clock and switched the laptop on. The program instantly popped up. It seemed he was the last one to sign in, even though he had come on five minutes early.
"Brett?" the words flitted across the screen.
"That's me" he typed the words nervously, unsure of what to expect. Before he could chicken out, he pressed the button and the words appeared on the screen as well.
"Good. Dess should be here soon."
Brett stared at the screen again. She wasn't on yet?
"Who are you?" he typed.
"Sara. Think of me as the TA," the response was suddenly cut off as another person entered.
"Good morning, my little students." The writing was bright green with a black background. This had to be Dess. "Today you're learning a very simply lesson, the first lesson of Dessometrics, to be exact. Lesson one: it's all about the math. Don't forget it. Everything about Midnight is math. Learn the patterns, the numbers, and you'll rule the night."
"Funny, Dess... I thought Lesson one was you're always right," Sara remarked.
"That's rule number one, Sara; a given. Sort of the unwritten first lesson."
"Sorry, just wanted to clarify," Sara responded.
Brett watched the banter with interest. This was definitely going to be a different kind of class.