END OF SILENCE

Disclaimer: Same as before.

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! =] I loves you guys!

Chapter Two: Intro (Canto III)

"You're sorry?!" Kara Tezla exclaimed. "Why did you put that much money out there? He was obviously a good racer."

Alex opened his mouth to protest, but there was really nothing he could say. It was true. Mark had shown him what he knew, he had ignored it, and now he was paying the price.

"Do you want to know why I'm not going to do anything about this?" Kara asked, turning and looking out the open door of the garage.

"Why?" Alex asked quietly.

"Because you're going to have to identify this guy so I can kick his--"

"Kara!" Mark called, flinging open the door that separated the house and the garage. "Your uncle's on the phone—says he wants to talk to you."

Kara sighed, getting up off the couch. She gave her brother a dirty look before turning to go up the stairs. "We'll finish this conversation later."

Once inside, Mark handed her the phone.

"What does he want?" she asked, putting her hand over the phone so her uncle couldn't hear her.

Shrugging, Mark took another bite of a donut he had been eating. "He doesn't like me, remember? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't give me the time of day, much less information meant for you."

It was true. Peter Tezla didn't like Mark. After the whole situation in which Mark decided to blow the mansion's power, he's considered Alex's best friend an "insolent boy who has no right to be around technology," and Mark hadn't proved him wrong yet. Despite the fact that he was a near genius, Mark didn't have a whole lot of common sense.

"Hello?" Kara offered, bringing the phone to her ear.

"Kara, it's your Uncle Peter," said the gruff voice on the other end.

"Hi,"

"There isn't much to say, so I'll just cut to the chase--would you and your brother mind coming back out here to Victor for a visit? I have something very important to show you."

Kara's lips pressed into a thin line. "Let me guess, you can't tell me what this 'important thing' is over the phone?"

"Sorry, but yes," he sighed after a short pause. "But I think you'd rather see this in person than just me telling it to you over the phone. Trust me." There was another pause. "Your brother will be here."

Crap. "Fine, but only because I haven't seen Josh in a few months,"

"I'll be seeing you, then?"

"Yeah," Kara said. She then hung up, not waiting for her uncle to speak again. "I guess we're going to Victor. Pack up," she told Mark, heading back for the door. The line was repeated to her brother from the top of the stairs before she went back into the kitchen to get her car keys.

Mark was still there, sitting on the counter with his donut. "You want me to call Tyce?"

"No," Kara stated, walking past him. "It'll just be us three for now. I'm thinking he's probably overexcited about whatever it is we're going for, so it's just a waste of gas to have us all go out there to come right back."

"What about the Teku?"

"Again, no," she said, taking his donut and ripping off a piece for herself. "We should be back before they even notice we're gone."

Mark frowned as she popped the donut piece in her mouth. "Alright."

After a second, she matched his expression. "What are you waiting for?"

He sighed. "Nothing, I'll be right out."

"That's right,"

Mark squinted after her, his eyes then moving to the remainder of the donut on his plate. "She doesn't appreciate you like I do," he muttered to the pastry. He pouted for a second and then shoved it all in his mouth.

It took the three of them, driving through the night, almost 14 hours to get to Peter Tezla's mansion. They arrived at five in the morning, and spent the rest of that next day sleeping. Kara managed to crawl out of bed in time for dinner that night, but Alex and Mark didn't show until the following morning. As soon as the two boys were up, Kara climbed to the attic to see her uncle.

"Uncle Pete," she said, knocking on the door at the top of the staircase.

"The door's open," Tezla's voice echoed.

Turning the knob, she opened the door slowly. Her uncle sat at his desk, surrounded by the organized chaos of his work and tapping away at the keyboard in front of his computer. The light from the desktop illuminated his face, giving the old man an eerie glow. After a moment, he stopped typing to look over at his niece.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Sure," Kara replied sourly. "Where's Josh?"

"You'll see him where we're going," he said, pressing a few buttons to shut down the computer. The room went dark as Tezla rose and came to the door. His mouth turned down as he met Kara at the door. "I know you think this is a waste of time, but I promise you'll want to see this. I should have let you in on it years ago and I swore I'd never make that mistake again."

Kara let him lead down the stairs to the main level. Mark and Alex were lounging in the den, still wearing what they went to bed in. Thankfully, all of them had clothes here from previous stays, so they didn't have to sleep in the same clothes all the time.

"You could wear a shirt, Alex," Kara mentioned, lightly tapping her brother on the side of the face as she passed.

"I have a nice body! It would be pointless if I didn't show it off," Alex said indignantly.

Kara chuckled. "I'm sure Mark appreciates it."

Mark, who had been half-asleep in one of the deep lounge chairs, groaned. "You know it."

"Uncle Pete's taking us down to... whatever he wanted to show us in the first place. Move it or lose it."

Both sighed in unison.

"And, no, you can't go back and get clothes now. We're doing this whether you have a shirt on or not, Al."

"Fine," Alex said, reluctantly getting up from the couch. "Come on Mark."

Mark grunted in response, rising tiredly to follow his friend.

Tezla led them through the kitchen and down into the garage, where they then walked to the back. The area was always considered off-limits because it's where Tezla kept his stuff... and nobody dared to wander back there. Even with Tezla with them it felt taboo. Their trek through the garage finally brought them to a corner that held an extremely large, black door.

After a password, two fingerprint scans, and an iris scan, the door started to rumble open.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" Alex exclaimed.

Inside... there was nothing. The cement floor faded away in all directions, almost seeming endless. Tezla shook his head, stepping into the inky darkness.

A second later, there was a hum, and lights started coming on.

Or a light.

A giant hologram sprung up in the middle of the room, lighting the sphere-shaped ring of track that ran around it.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" Alex exclaimed. Then, after a pause, "What is it?"

"This is a reconstruction of the hologram of the Wheel of Power and the track I had when I opened the realms last time. You're the first to see it completed," Tezla proclaimed.

"You're right," Kara admitted, "I wouldn't have believed you." She turned to face her uncle. "Does this mean you're re-opening the realms?"

"Yes, and you could be the first drivers to enter, if you'd like."